The Circus
by DoctorMerlinReid
Summary: In a world where metahumans are packed away into camps where they are used for experiments and menial labor, Wally West frees himself and a few others from the camp they were in and creates a metahuman resistance group called the Circus. Faced with an impossible battle against the Light, the Circus seeks an alliance with the superhero group called the Team.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: Okay, so I got the idea for this fic from reading** _ **Oblivion**_ **by Anthony Horowitz (one of my favorite authors ever!) and** _ **The Darkest Minds**_ **by Alexandra Bracken. I just read those and had this idea and was like, I have to write this. So, for warnings, the flashbacks are going to be pretty dark. And yeah, I know that the flashbacks I put in my fics normally aren't all rainbows and butterflies, but these are going to be worse than usual. So… just so you guys know. Other than that, usual level of violence, romance won't make that big of an appearance, but it will make at least some appearance. Oh, also, I'm going to be messing with ages a little bit, meaning that some people should be different ages at the time that this fic is occurring, but they're not going to be. Alrighty, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice, nor do I own** _ **The Darkest Minds**_ **since I'm going to be slightly basing my fic off of that series (you don't have to read the book to understand this fic, though).**

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Wally was pretty sure that something bad was going on.

He wasn't entirely certain what it was, or how bad it was, but he just knew that there was something. All of the adults desperately tried to keep the situation under wraps, away from the innocent, prying eyes of curious children.

Wally was smart, though. He knew how to look at a situation and read into the tiny details. He saw the way that Mom started turning off the news channel whenever he came into the room, or the way Dad increased the parental controls on the family computer that Wally was barely on anyways. He knew that Mom and Dad stopped getting newspapers delivered every day, instead getting them at work. He noticed that families would just up and leave the neighborhood without really saying anything to anyone. No one at school talked to him, so he had plenty of time to observe around him and come to conclusions: something was happening out in the Real World that made it so certain people had to go somewhere and Mom and Dad didn't want Wally knowing what that was. They probably thought that it was going to scare him.

Or maybe they thought that it wasn't going to scare him and that's what they were worried about. They were always worried that he wasn't "normal" enough, that he was too much like a freak. Wally didn't think he was normal, but if being normal meant being like the other kids in his grade, then he wasn't too sure that he wanted to be normal anyways. Mom and Dad didn't appreciate it when he told them that, though, so he never mentioned it again.

Then the bad thing going on came to him.

There was a boy in his class named Josh Jackham. His mother was a police officer, and no one knew who the father was. Wally's parents had told him to stay away from Josh because of that, but Wally talked to him sometimes anyways. Everyone had been outside at recess and some of the older kids were bullying Josh, calling him mean names that they weren't supposed to be saying and pushing him around.

Josh was getting more and more frustrated as the bullying continued, angry tears pooling in the corners of his eyes and causing him to be laughed at more. He was heaving, begging, "Leave me alone! Leave me _alone!_ " On the last word, a bright flash of lightning split the sky, an awe-inspiringly hot beam of light crashing to the ground in front of Josh, sending the bullies flying. Josh wasn't hurt, just scared, tears finally falling and body trembling like a leaf caught in the front windshield of a car. The bigger kids who had been picking on Josh were unconscious on the ground, one of them letting out one pathetic moan before falling completely silent.

The frantic teachers rushed around. Most of the them tasked themselves with herding the children away from the scene, but they missed little red-headed Wally West who was always so silent and alone. Using that to his advantage, Wally slipped closer to the scene, watching with rapt interest. Some of the other teachers were checking over the older boys for injuries, seeing if they could rouse them.

One particularly brave teacher had attempted to get closer to Josh, but the third grader was terrified and confused and not at all in the right frame of mind to be helped. Each time the teacher came close, a rush of wind tore at her, screaming in her ear and throwing her back. With each passing moment, the air grew heavier and the sky darker. A truly impressive storm was building up only above the school, a dark mark blotting the otherwise completely clear sunny day.

Out of the corner of his eye, Wally saw one of the teachers on her phone, yelling into it to be heard over the sound of the desperate wind and the confused conversation of an entire school of kids. He tried to creep closer to the teacher, but he only caught brief mentions of, "… one of them… metahuman… just a kid… how do we deal with… be here?... thank you so…" before one of the other teachers finally caught sight of him and ushered him back towards the school, eyes wide and panicked, fingers shaking slightly in their grip on his thin shoulders.

The teacher had finally gotten him inside, breathing a sigh of relief as the two got out of the now pouring rain and vicious winds. Wally caught a brief glimpse of men in full combat gear closing in on Josh before the doors shut.

Slightly worried for Josh, Wally thought on the word he'd heard: metahuman. What was a metahuman? Was it the reason that the weather was being so weird? Did it mean that Josh was the one causing the weird weather?

In science, meta often meant something had been changed, or altered. So… altered human? Josh was an altered human? Altered so he could make the weather go all crazy? If that was what was really going on, then that was _awesome_! It was totally insane! The idea didn't really make sense. How could an alteration in Josh's chemical makeup allow him to affect an entirely separate entity like the weather?

Properly curious now (and a little bit afraid of what this could mean because imagine bad people having powers like that), Wally hesitantly walked up to the side of one of his favorite teachers, the one that taught the more scientific classes. It was just elementary school, so there was never anything _really_ interesting going on, but the class was fun anyways.

After a few seconds, the teacher noticed Wally and crouched down next to him, "You okay, buddy? I heard you tried to stay out there in that rain. You can't do that, kiddo. You'll get sick out in the rain."

Wally blinked up at him and nodded seriously. The teacher smiled and patted Wally's shoulder, but before the man could turn around, Wally blurted out, "Can I go stay in your room?" The teacher's eyebrows pulled together and he looked like he was going to say no, but Wally pushed the issue before he could, "I just… I'm scared… and you know that staying your room helps me." It was true. Staying in the room, surrounded by locked cabinets with chemicals and tons of super interesting books on science that were way higher level than the ones in the library and a teacher willing to have intelligent conversation, made Wally feel accepted in a way that he never did anywhere else.

The teacher sighed gently, but nodded, truthfully understanding what Wally was saying. He gave Wally a stern warning to stay where he was before going over to the other teachers and telling them that he was going to bring the quiet redhead back to his room to help him calm down. The other teachers nodded, giving the green-eyed, friendless boy sympathetic glances and that was that.

After being led back to the science room, Wally immediately found a book he hadn't looked at yet, one about biology, and started reading. Maybe this would give him the answers he was looking for. He doubted that, but there was always the chance that the first book he grabbed would be the one that answered his questions. If it wasn't, then at the very least he'd get some useful information that might help him in his search.

Two chapters later, Wally had to admit defeat for the time being. The rain pounding down at the windows and the lightning cracking around them made it impossible to concentrate. School had been officially cancelled, but the weather was so dangerous that all the kids were currently stuck at the school as parents waited for the weather to die down enough to get the kids out.

Another flash of light illuminated the room, reflecting off the teacher's shiny mug and Wally was struck with an idea. From his spot between the bookshelf and the window, Wally called out, "What's a metahuman?"

The teacher froze, eyes widening dramatically before he swallowed and tried to cover up _that_ reaction by smiling broadly, "Where'd you hear that word, Wally?"

"Outside." The boy answered simply, "The other teacher was calling someone and said something about a metahuman. I think it means an altered human and I think Josh is one of them and that's why everyone's freaking out. I think since he's a metahuman, he's able to control the weather. I also think this is what everyone is trying to keep from the kids lately."

A small, sad smile twisted the teacher's lips and he sighed tiredly before saying, "I was told to not tell you guys this because people don't want the kids to know, but you've figured most of it out by yourself, so there's no point in not telling you. Can you promise to not tell anyone else?"

Wally nodded and said matter-of-factly, "I don't have anyone to tell anyways."

The teacher winced, but continued with an even voice, "A metahuman describes someone with abilities beyond normal human limits. Scientists think that there is a certain gene that is altered to give someone these abilities, but that's just a working theory right now. Good?" Wally nodded studiously, and the teacher continued, "Metahumans have been around for a long time, but, recently, there was a boom of them. Their numbers have drastically increased, and people feel threatened by that. These metahumans aren't natural. They're something different, something dangerous. I mean, look at Josh. He hurt those boys with his powers. So, the government has created camps for these metahumans. They're rounding them all up and sending them to the camps where scientists are working on a cure and are helping the metahumans to control their powers and stop being so dangerous. Still good?" Wally nodded again, and the teacher finished with, "We're keeping this from the kids because you don't need to be worried about your friends turning into metahumans and being dangerous. That would just be bad for you guys."

Wally nodded for a third time and accepted the answer. Mom and Dad always said that adults did the things they did to help kids and Mom and Dad never lied. Unless it was to help Wally, of course.

The rest of the answer was kind of sad, though. He didn't want Josh to go away. Josh was one of the only people who talked to him. Josh was never a friend, but he wasn't overly hostile like a lot of the others. He hadn't thought that Josh was dangerous, though. Even when he'd hurt those boys, they'd been hurting him first and Josh had seemed just as scared as the teachers had. But an adult told him that Josh was dangerous, so he must have been. Maybe you started out not dangerous but became dangerous because of the powers? Maybe, maybe not. Wally would figure it out eventually.

But he was curious. Was it the anger that had started the powers? Or was it something else? How did one _start_ being a metahuman? Wally opened his mouth to ask the teacher that, turning towards the front of the room, when there was a sound like shattering glass behind him. Wally saw a bright flash of light from behind him and he saw the expression of horror in the teacher's suddenly pale face and he saw his own body instinctually trying to move as if he were watching the situation from the side.

Inside, there was a calm acceptance of the fact that he was about to be hit by lightning (the lightning that Josh had created with his anger, a part of his mind whispered). Outside, there was only blood draining from his face and an incapability to move in the face of his shock.

And then, there was an impact like what Wally imagined getting hit by a truck would be like and Wally gasped. The sound became strangled in his throat, caught between the crippling fear and the scream of pain that wanted to rip its way out first.

He tumbled forward, still propelled by the bolt of lightning that broke all rules when it hit him instead of the lightning pole or the taller trees nearby. Wally smashed into a cabinet of chemicals, the lightning smashing around him and shattering the thin cabinet doors, sending shrapnel flying everywhere and drawing big lines of fire on Wally's skin. He vaguely registered liquid spraying up around him, coating him and causing the stinging aftereffects of that painful lightning to intensify, shaking his thin limbs and forcing his muscles to spasm sporadically, eyes fluttering shut as the pain overwhelmed him.

Opening them again took longer than he'd wanted. After his eyes had closed, the world had kind of seemed to shift around him. He didn't feel like he was in the real world anymore. There was a swirling vortex of light and feeling and emotions that he would never have the proper words to describe. It felt like coming home. And, honestly, that was why it took so long to open his eyes. He didn't want the beautiful feeling to go away when he woke up and he knew it would.

The sound of his Mom and Dad talking with the doctor was what finally brought him to open his eyes. Mom was wringing her hands in distress, "Are you _absolutely certain_ , Doctor?"

He nodded seriously, "There's no other explanation for how quickly he healed and recovered from the cuts and metal burns, ma'am. I am very sorry to have to be the one to give you this news."

Dad's voice was gravelly with controlled emotion when he said, "Is there any way to fix… to fix… it…" Wally's Dad looked the same as normal, hands crossed over his chest and big, broad shoulders squared, stood at least a foot away from Mom like usual. But Wally had never heard Dad struggle to say something. Dad was sometimes scary when he was mad, and he was never really around, but he was strong and brave and took care of them. Whatever was scaring him enough to not be able to talk about it had to be really bad.

The doctor gave the two a sad glance before shaking his head. Dad sighed and nodded, "I'll call the Collection Agency."

The doctor shifted slightly and offered, "If you'd like, I can call the Collection Agency? You two can stay with your son until they come." Mom nodded and started crying.

As soon as the doctor was out of the room, Wally tried to speak, coughing when he realized that his throat was bone dry, before blinking up at his parents and trying again, "Mom? Dad? What's going on?"

They weren't coming any closer to his hospital bed. Mom was still crying, the sounds only getting louder when he started speaking. Dad's jaw ground together, eyes cold and shut off. Wally shrunk back in the bed, confused, "Mom? Are you okay?"

His Mom shook and blinked tears away at him, disgust lining her expression. She didn't even speak to him, turning to Dad and saying, "I can't do this. I'll be in the car."

Dad didn't say anything, only nodding at his wife and staring Wally down from several feet away. Knowing that Dad didn't like it when he repeated questions, but so confused that he didn't know what else to do, Wally asked again, "What's going on, Dad?"

Dad let out a frustrated, scared breath, rubbing an aggravated hand through his hair. He took up pacing, muttering to himself, "We can never have kids again. What did we do wrong that our kid ended up being a freak? What evil deed did I do to be punished with this? Wallace wasn't supposed to be a metahuman."

Wally interrupted him with a gasp, sitting up so fast it made his head spin, bright spots of light sparking in the corners of his vision. He blurted, "I'm a metahuman? How? Was it because I was hit with Josh's lightning?"

But his Dad wasn't listening. Dad stared at him with abject horror, quickly stepping away from the bed that held his son. Voice stern (but shaking like the fingers of that terrified teacher had shook), Dad said, "Wallace. Do not move. Stay exactly where you are. Do you understand?" Wally nodded, scared at the serious note in Dad's voice (scared of the terror Dad had in his eyes when he looked at _Wally_ ). Dad continued, "You are a metahuman. I don't know how it happened. The Doctor is calling some people who are going to take you somewhere safe. They're going to keep you away from normal people, so you can't hurt them."

Wally was shaking his head before Dad had finished speaking, "No… no! That's not true! I would never hurt anyone! You don't need to send me away! I'll be good, and I'll fix myself! I swear!"

Dad's voice thundered in the small room, "Shut up! Shut _up_ , Wallace! You are going with these people. No arguments! That's final!"

With a sudden clarity, Wally realized that the people were standing just outside the door, faces carefully blank. Three of them stood there, all men, all incredibly muscled. There was a patch on the arm of each of their uniforms that read 'Collection Agency'. Wally blanched at the sight of them.

A tall one with darkly tanned skin and thick black hair, a small mustache settled on his upper lip, spoke seriously, switching his gaze between Wally and his father, "Sir, we need you to leave the room. We will take care of this." He had a slight accent, but Wally couldn't identify it. He wasn't sure why that bothered him so much.

Dad sent one more look Wally's way, expression softer than Wally had ever seen it before. And then he was gone, swept around the corner to never be seen again. One of the men, built taller and broader than the rest with a huge face set in a furious scowl, stalked towards Wally. His black hair was swept to the side and messy. He was terrifying.

Wally tried to scoot back in his bed, but everything was acting weird. The men were moving so slow and something howled around in his head, limbs itching with a want, with a need he'd never felt before. There were more sparks behind him, machines shorting out and flashing in warning. The heart monitor started letting out a steady beep, a flat line showing on the screen.

Still struggling, but all tangled in his blankets, Wally was helpless when the third man came up behind him and gripped him by the hair, holding him still as the huge man started ripping out wires and IVs. Wally whimpered in pain, but the thin, pale man shook Wally's captive hair in a warning to be silent.

The dark-skinned man and the pale one each grabbed one of Wally's arms, dragging him down the hallway and out of the hospital. Nurses and doctors were staring at Wally with a sort of disgust. Wally realized with a sense of dawning horror that they didn't see a kid being dragged off without his consent. They saw a monster being taken away for their own safety.

The knowledge, mixed with the fact that everything was speeding up and slowing down around him without any sort of pattern, made Wally give in. He couldn't get past these big, strong men and there was no way that anyone would help him even if he shook them. He couldn't escape by himself because of the wacky speeding up and slowing down that only seemed to be affecting him. So, he shuffled along limply between the two men, bare feet cold against the ground and hospital gown thankfully clasped shut around him.

Wally was dragged into some sort of bus. It was a little smaller than a usual school bus and it was completely white. There were no windows on the sides, making it seem kind of like a big van. When he was shoved inside, he saw that there were a bunch of benches without backs. They forced him back a few rows and pushed him down next to someone who didn't look much older than Wally from the glimpse he'd gotten.

Then the men were yanking his hands behind his back with bruising force, dragging them together and cuffing them, adding a layer of zip ties and chaining the whole thing to the ground before moving on and doing the same thing with his feet.

Finally, _finally_ , they left him and went to different positions on the bus. The dark-skinned one moved to the back of the bus, grabbing a gun and holding it with lethal intent in his eyes and the point leveled at the group. The pale one sat towards the middle, gun held with the same deadly intent and lack of remorse. The huge one took up a similar position in the front, facing back towards the gathered group. Within a moment, the bus shuddered to life and revved its engine.

In the brief moment that the engine was still loudly starting, the boy next to Wally leaned over and said, "Hey, I'm Cameron. What's your name?"

"Wally." He answered back, shaking slightly in his seat. He snuck a glance at Cameron and just prevented himself from doing a double take. The kid's skin was pale, almost tinged blue like he was suffering from hypothermia. He had a shock of white hair on his head, fluffy and tangled. His eyes were a startling blue, but one of them was swelling shut from a huge shiner.

Cameron whispered carefully, "You a criminal's kid too?"

Wally slid his eyes over to Cameron, startled, "Your parents are criminals?"

Cameron grinned slightly, "I'm taking that as a no. And yeah, dad's a villain. A lot of us on the bus are in that kind of situation. The kids are those whose parents are criminals and when CPS was trying to find a place for us, they realized we were freaks and sent us off to the Collection Agency. The adults are actual criminals who were arrested. So, that's not you?"

Wally shook his head slightly and whispered back, "No. My parents realized that I was a metahuman and had the doctor call the Collection Agency."

Cameron opened his mouth to say something in return, but he was stopped when one of the men came over and smashed the butt of his rifled into the back of Wally's head. Wally was sent jerking forward, the pain from the cuffs scraping against his skin a mere ghost compared to the fire that bloomed on the back of his head. Wally's eyes closed, and he breathed harshly as blood trickled through his hair, soaking into the bright material of the hospital gown. The pale man barked, "No talking!"

Luckily, Cameron didn't say anything, but his skin went frosty blue before shading over completely, body shifting into ice, frozen tendrils of frost icing over the seat they were on. Wally gasped at the first freezing touch, eyes wide.

By then, they'd attracted the attention of the other two men. One of the metahumans in the back (was that really a man, though?) started snarling and pulling at his chains, howling, "Leave them alone! They're just kids!"

Panic settled under Wally's skin as that man was clubbed with a rifle too and the other two men tried to get Cameron to stop icing the bus over. Eventually, the huge man shook his head and stepped back a little, aiming the gun at Cameron's chest.

Eyes wide and breath fluttering at unnatural speeds in his throat, time slowed even more. He saw the bullet exit its chamber, flying abysmally slow through the air. Wally knew with a sick type of certainty that if his hands were free, he'd be able to pluck the bullet right out of the air. Instead, he was forced to watch it crawl through the air towards his unsuspecting seatmate (one of the few people who had tried to be nice and talk to him and try to get to know him).

No. Wally shook his head, breathing settling as he came to a conclusion. He didn't have to just watch. He could do something about this. Ignoring the scraping pain of the zip ties and cuffs tearing away at his skin and cutting at the soft parts of his wrist, Wally pulled, leaning over towards Cameron. He felt something pop in his right shoulder and bit back a cry of pain. Finally, _finally_ , he reached far enough to shove Cameron away. It wasn't going to feel nice on Cameron's hands, but it wouldn't be a bullet to the chest. It would, however, be a bullet in Wally's shoulder.

He did scream, then, as the bullet tore into his muscles and lodged there, causing him to slump over. The only thing that held him upright was the chains still dragging at his raw wrists and his dislocated shoulder.

Cameron screamed too, as time sped back up to normal and blood splattered his shoulder and chains pulled against his wrists. The ice melted away from his skin and left him looking like normal again, if horrified. The adults were pounding at the seats, desperately trying to get out of their restraints. They might be criminals, but they cared about a kid getting hurt, apparently.

The pale man yelled for the driver to stop the bus and the driver did, pulling over to, presumably, a shoulder of the road. Gasping for breath, Wally shook in his bonds, pain pounding through his small body. It wasn't as painful as that lightning had been, but it didn't feel spectacular either.

The dark-skinned man called for order, telling them to calm down. It wasn't working as everyone continued tearing at their bonds. Eventually, the huge one _screamed_ for silence. The bus load went deadly silent, everyone breathing harshly and staring at the man who sneered at them, anger dripping off his body and curling around him.

Once he was assured of their silence, he snarled, "Obviously we didn't explain ourselves well enough. We are the Collection Agency. You are one of the first groups of _metahumans_ collected for the camps. You will _not_ use your powers. You will _not_ speak. And, as a word of advice, do not try to stand up for someone else. You will only be hurt worse and they will be hurt too."

To prove his point, he stomped over to Cameron and Wally. He threw the end of his rifle into Cameron's ribs, causing the nice kid to cough up blood. The big man then smashed the butt of the rifle into Cameron's mouth, knocking him out. Cameron tipped over, arms akimbo behind him, still gently weeping blood from the small cuts the cuffs gave him.

Then the huge man came over to Wally. He gripped Wally's hair, ignoring the whimper and probing curiously at the back of Wally's head, "No wonder they flagged you. That's some impressive healing ability you've got there. The only sign that you were hit back here is the dried blood. You're going to be real useful." Wally squirmed in his bonds, twitching slightly with the pain movement elicited. The huge man smiled, wicked and cruel. He reached over to a first aid kit, the sound of him rifling through it endlessly loud in the silence that had overcome the bus. He wiped his fingers carefully with an alcohol wipe before thrusting his fingers into Wally's bullet wound. Wally let out a strangled scream that turned to pained moans and whimpers as the man continued to probe in the wound. The huge man started talking, "Now, now. We don't want the bullet left in here, do we?"

Finally, the man pulled his fingers out, bringing the bullet with him. Wally gasped, sagging against his bonds. He didn't even have enough in him to whimper when the man grasped Wally's chin in his bloody fingers, forcing the eight-year-old to look the huge man right in the eyes. The man stared at him before smirking and pushing Wally's head away. He stood up, towering over Wally's small form. He glanced out at the rest of the metahumans locked in the bus, "I'm sure you've been hearing about how we're bringing you to these camps to cure you and to protect you. That's false. We're bringing you here to experiment on you and make you _work_. It's the least you freaks can do to make up for existing. Some of you are going to be used primarily for brute force with occasional experiments – like you monster in the back. Some of you, like this little _hero_ , are going to be used primarily for experiments. This one can recover fast enough for a lot of experiments." Wally shivered in his seat as the man eyed him dangerously before the man continued, "There will be no escape. And the punishment for escape attempts will not be something so simple as death."

He eyed them all for another long moment before turning back to the front of the bus and motioning for the driver to start driving again. He casually wiped the blood off his hands with a wipe and tossed the bloody rag on the floor.

Wally shook against the fear, the adrenaline rush, the pain, the strange feeling of his skin knitting back together as he sat there, the loneliness. He shook against the injustice of the situation. He shook against the knowledge that this was about to be his life.

 **Author's Note: Here we go! This is just the prologue, so this happened in the past and the story is going to pick up in the present with flashbacks to Wally's time in the camp. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! Read, review, and enjoy!**

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Wally scowled down at his reports and rubbed at the back of his neck, cracking it slowly and leaning back in his chair. He scrubbed at his eyes and leaned forward again to keep reading the reports. Where on earth was the Light getting all those metahumans? After starting the Circus roughly a year ago, Wally had managed to dismantle a good portion of the big metahuman groups, having them either killed or brought somewhere safe to be rehabilitated.

The Circus had grown larger than Wally could have ever guessed. He had known that there were a lot of people who were hiding their abilities, but he hadn't truly understood how large that number was until the Circus had started offering their support to any and all good metahumans. People had flooded in from every direction. There were people who had been hiding for years, there were those who had been blending in with humans for years, and there was the occasional person who had broken out of one of the camps.

All the other metahumans were careful and respectful around the ones who had broken out of a camp. There weren't a lot. Wally's main group – the group that actually made up the original, attack group – had all escaped from the same camp and then there were maybe three others. The camps were notoriously difficult to escape from. There were a lot of attempts, but not a lot of successes.

Once membership got too large and the powers too untrained, the Circus had decided to add an extra interest to their agenda: finding a new home for the metahumans. That had taken a lot of research and dead ends. Eventually, the main group had found Gorilla City. After proving that they really were ostracized from human society and truly just wanted to escape, the talking gorillas (and, really, that shouldn't be as weird as it was) showed them how the cloaking for their city worked. The metahumans took the knowledge and tweaked it and made it fit their needs. There was now an ever growing, self-sustained town of metahumans in the mountains of Canada.

The Circus protected the town and smuggled people to it whenever they needed to. So far, they haven't tried freeing a camp, but they definitely had plans in the works for that.

They were, luckily, funded by a few _very_ rich metahumans who supported the mission. Wally respected the rich ones the most. Those people were perfectly fine in society, living life completely free and living well, but they were willing to risk all of that to help those who weren't as privileged as them.

But reminiscing about the successes of the Circus didn't change the failure that Wally was looking at spelled out in the reports. He rubbed at his eyes again, sighing.

"You need to relax sometime. You're way too uptight." A voice said, coming out of the darkness and startling Wally, nearly sending him tumbling out of his chair. Cameron laughed at him, clutching his stomach and wheezing, "You should have seen your face!"

"Don't do that!" Wally gave a tiny smile, clutching his chest and willing his already ridiculously fast heart to slow down a little bit, "You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days. You're going to need a pretty fantastic defibrillator to get it going again, too."

"He's right, though." Dinah said, plopping gracefully (how was that even possible?) into one of the other seats of the round table they used for meetings. Wally rolled his eyes as Dinah continued, "Just saying, kid. Take a break. Have a vacation. Give the reigns a little slack."

"Why are we talking about horses?" Kelvin asked, forehead shifting in a way that indicated that if he had eyebrows, they would have been raised. He followed Dinah into the room and followed her example of sitting in one of the chairs.

Dinah sighed and rolled her eyes rather aggressively, "We weren't talking about horses, idiot." Wally and Cameron shared a secretive look behind the two's backs. For all that they acted like they hated each other, they were the perfect team and often acted as the mom and dad of the group. Then again, they were the only two adults in a group of people whose parents were often sore spots, so it wasn't all that surprising that they fell into the roles so easily.

Garfield, Jinx, and Lorraine all walked in a moment later, casually moving into their regular chairs. Jinx drawled in a bored tone, "So, what's up?"

"What's up is that I'm being unincluded from another team meeting. That's what's up." Harold said, hand held to his chest in mock pain. He had walked in just moments after the other three teens had sat down.

"Not our fault you're so slow." Lorraine teased. Harold stuck his tongue out in retaliation.

When it looked like Lorraine was about to physically stand up and start a fight, Dinah called out, "Children! Calm down. We weren't having a team meeting. Cameron and I were just trying to convince our glorious leader to take a break."

"Ooh, team vacation? I want to go to Japan!" Garfield called out, hopping excitedly in his seat.

Wally gave another smile, a mere shifting of his lips, before his eyebrows drew together, "Maybe another time, Gar. We've got a problem."

"We always have problems." Jinx sighed, leaning back in her seat and idly flipping a pencil in the air in front of her.

Kelvin leaned forward, serious because Wally was serious, "What are we looking at?"

Wally threw the reports on the table, leaving them for anyone who wanted to grab them and read them for themselves. He locked his fingers behind his head and leaned back in his seat, "We're looking at a freaking massive bad guy group. The Light have been slowly infiltrating and dominating the criminal underworld for a long time. They only recently started coming in contact with the _heroes_ , but they didn't come on our radar until really recently. Apparently, they've been scouring the metahuman underworld and recruiting like crazy. We're talking almost thirty metas added to their ranks in a little over two months." Jinx whistled, finally looking interested.

Dinah leaned forward, mouth pursing, "And this is the group we sent our guy undercover into?" Wally nodded, and Dinah frowned further, "I don't like that. He's too young to be in a group that big."

Wally's scowl more than matched hers. Kelvin and Dinah very rarely played the age card. They knew that the teens in the Circus had left childhood behind the moment the Collection Agency caught them. They knew that all of them were powerful, dedicated, determined, and dangerous. Sometimes, though, they obviously couldn't help but be worried at the fact that the oldest of the teenagers was Lorraine at seventeen. Dinah scrubbed her face and muttered, "Sorry. I know he can handle himself. I shouldn't have said that."

"It's fine." Wally said shortly, expression still slightly twisted.

Dinah sent him a crooked smile, "Besides, who better do we have to put in an organization? He fits in with metas and with groups that don't want metas. He can always say that the gods blessed him or something and pull whatever trash that Amazon pulled to get out of the camps or to get him through meta haters."

Harold's nose wrinkled, "Why did we send him into a group that wasn't making any splashes in the meta world?"

Cameron was the one who answered, "They have a pretty legit meta on the main council. That Queen Bee chick from that one country? I don't remember the name…"

"Bialya?" Garfield tried. Cameron snapped and tapped the bridge of his nose, indicating that was the right answer. Wally tried to force a smile on his face at the action, but his lips didn't quite respond. He hadn't been good at smiling for a long time. Harold nodded his understanding.

"So, what's the problem?" Cameron asked, "This sounds pretty simple to me. Get our guy to pull some strings and get a couple of us recruited. Apply some pressure from the outside, start tearing it apart from the inside. Gather some sympathetics, take down the humans. We've done that scheme a thousand times already."

Wally twisted his lips, "Want to hear the names of all the members on the council? Queen Bee, Vandal Savage, The Brain, Lex Luthor, Klarion, and Ra's al Ghul." Jinx whistled again, eyes wide and mouth slightly parted. The rest weren't much better, staring at him in varying degrees of shock. He nodded at them and continued, "Yeah, exactly. That's only including the main group. They've got a ton of allies. Black Manta was seen to be working with them. Psimon. Kobra. That Injustice League thing was their doing. They've got allies everywhere and not all of them are human or metahuman. We're facing things we don't know how to face."

"What do we do then?" Kelvin asked, massive forehead crinkling over pure white eyes.

Wally bit his lip slightly, glancing around him. Lorraine sighed, "I know that face. That's your 'I-have-an-idea-but-none-of-you-will-like-it' face. I hate that face."

Cameron whipped his head around and narrowed his eyes at Wally before announcing, "Yep, I see it."

Wally rolled his eyes and lightly shoved his best friend's shoulder, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I do have an idea, though. And probably none of you will like it."

"Just spit it out." Jinx groused, inspecting her nails.

"We should contact the Justice League and get them to help." Wally pushed out quickly. For a second, he received nothing but blank stares and he was worried that he'd accidently spoken too fast.

Then everyone promptly blew up at him and he knew that they'd understood him.

Wally called for order, "Hey! One at a time!" Everyone instantly quieted. Thankfully their team worked well together and were willing to talk things out. Wally said, "Give me a second to defend myself. We cannot handle the Light on our own and, as they are now, they're a threat to everything we've built this past year. They're not good news for anyone and I'm not going to sit around and do nothing as they tear the world apart. We might be willing to die for our people, but we don't have to in this case. If we can work with the Team for this one single mission, then it'll be fine. And maybe we might change their minds about metahumans. It would be nice to have some support from heroes on that front."

Cameron snorted, "You're dreaming if you ever think that the mini-heroes – or _any_ heroes – are going to start accepting us and backing up our case to the rest of the humans." Wally gave him a look and Cameron raised his hands, eyebrows drawing together, "Look, Walls, you _hate_ heroes. I guess I'm just a little confused where this is coming from. Never once in the time I've known you have you had a good thing to say about the heroes, their sidekicks, their teams, or their abilities."

"The Team has been able to push the Light back quite a bit recently. They've done more than we have in this case." Wally pointed out.

Cameron nodded, but he was still frowning, "Still, Wally." He sighed and tried again, "Look, you know me. I'll tell you straight out if an idea is stupid, but I'll still support it. I trust anything you say. And, shockingly enough, I'm not actually opposed to this idea. I'm just really confused where it's coming from. And I feel like the rest of the group will understand your point of view a little better if you explain it to them, too."

Wally unlocked his fingers and leaned forward, running his hands repeatedly through his hair. One of Kelvin's huge red hands fell on his shoulder, a comforting weight. Nonetheless, Wally subtly shifted out from under it, still not used to positive contact. Kelvin frowned a little bit, but understood. Wally paused and finally answered, voice stilted, "The reason… I used to love heroes. I thought they were awesome. They were… they were what I aspired to be. I really thought they were awesome. When we were taken to the camp. I… it was… for _months_ I sat there and dreamt that a hero would come and save me. I hoped and prayed and did everything I could think of to get at least one of them to come save us. But they didn't. For _six years_ they didn't. So, I just… I started hating them. And I realized that I hated them for a purely selfish reason. When… that last batch of metas we saved from the metahuman trafficking ring? There was a girl who spat in my face and said, 'Why save me? Why not save my little sister, who's stuck in one of the camps? Are you too scared to go back? Too scared to save the rest?' And I realized that it wasn't the heroes' faults. It's hard saving people. And yeah, maybe they don't know what's going on, maybe they do know, and they don't care. That doesn't matter. It wasn't their fault." Wally's lips twisted again, and he stared down at his lap.

Dinah's voice was pained when she asked, "Wally, that was _weeks_ ago? Why have you been holding that in for so long?"

Lorraine groaned dramatically, "Why do you even bother asking him that? It's the same answer every time he pulls something like that."

Harold and Garfield recited in unison, "I didn't want to worry you guys. You have your own problems to deal with. You don't need mine on top of it."

Wally rolled his eyes, "I know, I know. I need to get better at talking about my feelings and letting you guys help. I'm working on it, I swear. I told you guys when I broke my finger the other day, remember? I'm getting better!"

Kelvin laughed before ruffling his hair, gently and only for a second, "That's all we ask for, fearless leader."

"So, are we really doing this?" Jinx asked before clarifying, "Are we really going to ask the heroes for help?"

Wally glanced at the group. Cameron with his bright white hair and glowing blue eyes. Kelvin with his flowing black mane, and his red, armor like skin. Dinah with her long blond hair and fierce expression. Garfield with his green hair and green eyes and green skin. Harold with his boyish face and open brown eyes. Jinx with her pale ashen skin and the way her expression lit up when she was interested. Lorraine with her burnt orange hair and intelligent blue eyes. Each and every one gave him the nod he needed.

He settled tired, sad green eyes on his team, on the people he escaped horror with. This was his family. These were the people he would die for. Wally nodded to Harold, "Let's send the message then."

DDDDDD

Dick watched as Artemis drummed her fingers against her armrest again. Roy finally snapped, turning towards her, "Will you _stop_ that?"

Her cheeks pinked slightly, but she glared heatedly at him, "Maybe if we weren't waltzing right into a trap, I'd stop doing that! This whole plan is stupid!"

"Oh my God!" Roy cried, throwing his hands in the air, "We _know_! We get that you don't like this plan. Tough!"

Kaldur worded it a little gentler, "The Light is becoming too much for us to handle. Even with the skills we all possess, we are going up against… metahumans. The Circus is skilled in fighting metahumans and have information regarding the Light. They reached out to us with information and a chance at an alliance. They allowed us to choose the location. We need this alliance, Artemis."

Artemis set her jaw, but didn't say anything else for a few seconds. Dick thought she was done, until she suddenly growled, "This is definitely a trap."

"I am sure that they are not that mean, Artemis. They are just trying to help!" M'gann asserted cheerfully.

Raquel added seriously, "Even if it is a trap, we're good. They've gotta do a lot to take us down."

"They're a terrorist organization. We're colluding with _terrorists_." Artemis argued, trying to get the rest of them to see her point.

Conner frowned slightly, "They're doing the same thing we are. They're fighting people that normal people can't fight."

Artemis pursed her lips and glared out the window of the bioship, "They're _not_ doing the same thing we are. _We_ don't kill. We don't dole out our own punishments. We leave that up to the justice system, like we're supposed to. These people broke out of the camps that are helping them get cured and started tearing up cities and killing people for their own wacked form of _justice_. They are not like us."

Dick sighed, "Just leave it, Artemis. We're practically there anyways. It's not like we can back out now. It'll work out fine." She huffed, but didn't say anything back. Dick considered that good enough. He understood her reasoning, he really did, but they'd agreed as a group that they were going to meet the Circus, so that's what they were going to do.

The Circus was somewhat of a mystery in the crime-fighting world. The group had started roughly a year ago. They didn't know who all was in it. They didn't know who led it. They didn't know the numbers. They weren't even sure what powers each person had. The group infuriated Batman, who tried as hard as he could to catch them, but has, as of yet, ended up empty handed.

That was why it had come as such a shock when Batman had received a message from the Circus, asking for a meeting. They said that they couldn't handle the Light on their own, that the organization was too big for them to take down, but that they had information that they were willing to give the Team along with a temporary alliance in order for the Light to be dismantled. Everyone had suspected a trap, but Dick wasn't sure what to think. The message seemed a little too desperate, a little too forcibly polite to be a trap. Dick thought that the Circus was as split on this meeting as the Team was.

That was understandable, too, with the amount of times that the superheroes had tried capturing various members of the Circus. This situation must be as difficult for them as it was for the Team. Besides, the Circus was made entirely of metahumans and no metahuman was ever truly comfortable around people who weren't metahumans. They seemed to think that they were better than normal humans and went around isolating themselves. No one particularly liked metahumans, mainly because they were unnatural and almost always dangerous. Superheroes, used to people with powers (aliens or different species) and dangerous friends, disliked metahumans for their elitist attitude and their refusal to help humans protect the earth.

That was yet another strange part of this meeting. The Circus didn't help humans. They never once knocked a human out of the line of fire, or stopped a human from getting hurt. They didn't seem to care at all if a human was injured, leaving them there instead of carting them to a hospital. The Circus would always save their own skin first before saving a human's. But now they were risking their entire organization to take down the Light. Was there something going on that the Justice League didn't know? What made the Circus so interested in taking the Light down? It didn't make sense.

Dick was brought out of his thoughts by the feel of the bioship tilting towards the ground. Miss Martian settled them gently on the ground and took a brief moment to set up the mind link. Finally ready, the group looked at each other before trooping out of the bioship, coming out in the clearing that they'd specified for the meeting.

Within seconds of exiting the ship, a teenager, about average height for a girl, came out of the other side of the clearing. Her hair was a light burnt orange and her skin tan. A good portion of her face was covered with a large domino mask. Based on it's pristine coloring, it was obvious that she didn't wear this into the field. Otherwise, she was wearing perfectly normal, innocuous clothing. Overall, she looked average. She looked like a human.

Aqualad stepped forward, "Hello, my name is Aqualad and I am the leader of the Team. I presume you know the rest of the members?" He swept out a hand to indicate the group gathered behind him, all decked out in their superhero suits with weapons loaded but sheathed.

The girl smiled politely and answered, "Yes, I know your other members. You may call me Firehawk. I am the, per se, face of the Circus. I will represent them initially in the meeting."

Aqualad tilted his head curiously, "There will be no other members of the Circus at this meeting?"

The polite smile creased a little in worry before Firehawk responded, "There are other members not far away, to act as a protection detail of sorts. When we have ascertained whether an alliance with you would be beneficial, they will reveal themselves."

Robin frowned, "So you're saying that we have to go through this meeting potentially surrounded by metahumans without knowing how many of them there are or who they are or what they can do? We just have to go through the meeting like that? With that unfair disadvantage against us?" He neglected to mention that Superboy could probably smell/hear all of the people who were surrounding them.

Robin sent out mentally, _Superboy, can you get a lock on who's around us?_

Superboy responded instantly, _There are six people surrounding us. Two are adults and the rest are other teenagers. There's one that… doesn't seem right. He's shaped strangely._

 _They are metahumans_ , Artemis responded back. Superboy sent her a mental nod.

"Do you wish for the information and chance of a team up or not?" Firehawk was asking, voice taking on a slightly sharper edge.

"And if we won't trust this information without getting it straight from the leader?" Red Arrow asked carefully.

The polite smile didn't shift, but there still seemed to be a darker edge to Firehawk's expression when she answered just as carefully, "Then you will not receive the information." Red Arrow inclined his head towards her. Fair enough. Robin watched as she tilted her head curiously for a moment before inclining her head back to him.

Aqualad took over the conversation again, "Can you tell us at least how you received this information?"

"The Circus has a spy on the inside of the Light. They are feeding us information as they obtain higher positions in the organization." Firehawk responded.

"And there's no chance that the Light knows that this person is a spy and giving you information? There's no chance that this information is tainted?" Red Arrow clarified.

Firehawk's voice was droll when she answered, "There is always a chance that information is tainted. I would have thought that you'd know that."

Artemis raised her eyebrows and scowled, "If you're the best person for negotiations and the like in your little group, then I can't imagine how rude the rest of your lot are."

"Certainly less rude than you. We're trying to help you and you've done nothing but doubt us and insinuate that we don't know what we're doing. News flash: we've been a team and fighting crime longer than you have. We know what we're doing." Firehawk scowled back.

Aqualad tried to diffuse the tension, "Please, excuse Artemis. She is simply concerned over this interaction. The Circus has not been known to be particularly welcoming nor helpful to hero groups. We are confused as to why you chose now to help us."

"We chose now because the Light wasn't a problem before then. We've dealt with purely metahuman groups which is something we can handle. We're smart enough to know when we can't handle something, and we know we can't handle metahumans _and_ whatever else they've got on that team. We're not even sure what some of those people are." Firehawk said, grabbing one arm with the other and shifting her weight slightly.

Zatanna responded with a friendly smile, "Honestly, we're not even sure _who_ some of the members of the Light are."

Firehawk opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by the shrill call of a bird. The white slots of her mask widened, and she stepped backwards. The call came again, three short bursts and then a long one. Almost at the same time, Superboy called out, "There's someone coming."

Firehawk stumbled back a step or two before scowling fiercely at the group of gathered teenage heroes. She snarled, "You led someone here!"

Artemis snarled back, "It wasn't us! You must have been careless getting here!"

Firehawk's hands clenched and she moved back towards the Team, looking like she was ready to fight, "There was no way someone could track the way we got here, trust me. It wasn't us." Robin eyed her warily. She didn't exactly look like the type who was able to fight someone. Didn't she say that she was the face of the Circus, guarded by other members? Where were the other members?

Miss Martian shook her head in distress, "The bioship that we used to get here is invisible the entire way. They couldn't have tracked that either!"

"Then you might want to consider the idea that you have a spy." Firehawk said, face warily turning from person to person carefully as if that could tell her who the spy was. Robin shifted uncomfortably. The issue of a spy was something the Team had been struggling with for a while now. They were no closer to figuring out who it was or if there was even one.

Apparently, the subject was a sore topic for Red Arrow too because he snapped, "And it couldn't have been one of yours?"

Despite the fact that they could only see the bottom half of Firehawk's face, they could all see the way that it closed off with that comment. Her voice was like ice cold fire when she hissed, "Don't you _ever_ insinuate that we have betrayed each other." Red Arrow set his jaw and obviously bit back a retort.

Aqualad again worked to diffuse the tension, "Superboy, what is it?"

"It's the Light." Firehawk answered clearly.

"How do you know?" Artemis asked, instantly suspicious.

Firehawk spared her a disdainful glance, "That bird call? It was a warning system. One call to warn of an intruder. Three short calls and a long one to indicate that it was the Light."

Superboy expanded on her answer, "There are about twenty enemies. We're surrounded. It sounds like Ra's al Ghul's people."

Aqualad glanced at the member of the Circus and apparently came to the same conclusions Robin had. He said, "Firehawk, you should go back to the other Circus members. We will handle this threat and you can come back when it is safe."

Firehawk turned to him and gave him an affronted look, "Are you serious? If anything, you guys should stay back. I wouldn't want you guys to get hurt in a real fight." Red Arrow was about to snap something at her, but then she started… changing.

The mask fell away as her skin darkened to a slightly golden tan, cheekbones sharpening. Robin didn't get a chance to see what color her eyes were before the entire eyeball was covered in a glowing white sheen, obscuring her pupils, irises, and sclera. Burnt orange hair burst into bright white flames that matched the new color of her eyes. Long red and orange blades of feathers sprouted from her arms, white fire rippling to life around her wrists and ankles. Her normal, everyday clothes were replaced with a skin tight black suit dominated by an orange hawk. She was a completely different person.

With a smirk that said exactly what she was thinking, Firehawk shot into the air, hovering above them and looking around the clearing. Robin looked around too, trying to spot one of the interlopers. No matter what she said, he wasn't going to sit back and watch her fight them by herself.

Before he got a chance to even spot one of the enemies, though, Firehawk was blasting that bright white fire at a clump of Ra's al Ghul's assassins. As the assassins dodged, Firehawk mentally pushed the fire towards their retreating forms. The group of assassins hit the ground hard, clothes smoking and bodies unmoving. The Team watched, wide-eyed, as Firehawk single-handedly took out the gathered forces, not even giving them a chance to fight back as she struck them all down.

She settled herself to the ground, landing delicately. The fire around her wrists and ankles didn't seem to actually be burning the ground.

Artemis and Red Arrow both had tight grips on their bows, but they hadn't fitted arrows yet. Robin himself had a batarang ready and Aqualad's water bearers were seconds away from activating.

Firehawk bared her teeth at them, "Seriously? This is how you treat your first sight of a Circus meta? That says a lot for what an alliance between our two groups would be like. I'm real impressed. Maybe we should rethink our stance on this subject."

Aqualad mentally sent out, _Put away your weapons. We cannot lose this alliance. The metahumans are skilled._

Out loud, he said, "We are putting our weapons away. We were merely startled. You had not given off the impression of being so… powerful."

Firehawk pursed her lips, but relaxed a little bit.

Suddenly, there was a trilling call of a bird. There was a pause while the Team tensed, not sure what this meant. It wasn't the same call that had been given when there were intruders. What was going on?

Firehawk, though, relaxed even further, a fond smile softening her features, "I guess there's going to be a team up after all. The leader's given permission. The others are coming out."

The first one was a small green bird. It made the same happy trilling noise that it had made earlier. Firehawk smiled at the creature that landed briefly on her shoulder, "This is Changeling."

The reason for his name became apparent quite quickly when the bird flew to the ground and started shifting, feathers disappearing and bones rearranging themselves. Within the blink of an eye, there was a teenaged boy with green skin, pointed ears, and a cheap domino mask obscuring his eyes. There was a little fang sticking out of his lips. He was wearing a skintight purple and black suit. Changeling grinned at them and waved cheerfully. It was obvious that he had none of the hesitance Firehawk had come into the situation with.

Firehawk waved a hand towards the trees, "This is Ballistic." A huge, towering figure – probably the one Superboy had identified as being strangely shaped – came out of the trees. His mass of black hair was held back by a green cowl, eyes completely white and skin a red plated armor. There were two little horns sticking out of his chin. He was armed to the teeth with weapons. Ballistic came to a stop next to Firehawk, towering over her completely. She didn't seem overly concerned with the monster towering over her. Robin had to force himself not to outwardly react to the figure. Some of the others weren't as controlled and Firehawk's lips twisted in disappointment. Ballistic seemed unconcerned with their reactions, probably used to it.

"This is Black Canary and Jinx." Firehawk nodded her head towards the two girls who came out from behind the bioship. Black Canary was tall and beautiful, domino mask covering her face, but clothing not doing much to cover the rest. Her body piece left all of her legs covered only by fishnet leggings and was rather low hanging on the top. She was wearing a choker and a dark blue, quarter sleeve jacket. Her fingerless gloves were a black leather that matched her mid-calf boots. Jinx, though, had an uninterested set to her face, the rest covered by a black domino mask. Her hair was bubblegum pink and defied gravity in two upwards pigtails. She was stick thin with black and purple clothing that leaned towards a gothic design. Her feet were swallowed by huge purple and black shoes. Her skin was legitimately grey.

Two more guys came out next, Firehawk introducing them as, "Maser and Icicle." Maser was fitted out in an electric blue suit with bright yellow elbow gloves and midthigh yellow boots. His collar was a huge lightning bolt that ended at his waist. He had an electric blue cowl with yellow sticks pointing upwards over his ears. Icicle was literally made of ice, joints extenuated with sharp points of ice. His eyes were bright blue and his hair shockingly white. He had on a dark blue tank top with only a belt of ice to separate it from the black pants. His feet were bare, toes made of claws of ice.

Firehawk smiled then, fond and proud, "And here's the fearless leader: Supersonic."

The suit was a light grey, the boots, gloves, and a lightning bolt belt in a darker grey. His cowl was open at the top, letting loose a mane of wild red waves. His chest was left empty, no recognizable symbol. Most importantly, though, he was obviously a teenager.

Red Arrow focused in on that point, asking incredulously, "Seriously? You're lead by a kid?"

"Thank you. That makes me feel great about myself." Supersonic deadpanned, expression completely straight.

"Hey, no hating on the fearless leader." Icicle said, grinning broadly at Supersonic, who simply ignored him. Icicle pouted at him.

Firehawk gave the impression of rolling her eyes, "Do you see why they send me out first to make a good impression? The rest of these losers would lose people's interest in two seconds flat. Completely useless."

Changeling stuck out his lower lip and whined, "They'd send me if I wasn't such a good warning system. I'm friendly! And not useless!"

"I greatly doubt the second one." Jinx stated blandly, observing her nails.

"Guys." Supersonic said, pinching his nose. The rest of the group straightened to attention immediately, perking Robin's interest. That was some impressive control that the leader had over the rest of the Circus. They hung on his every word. Supersonic continued, "Sorry about them. We're not used to people. If you're still interested in an alliance, we're willing to offer ourselves to it, along with all the information we have or will get in the future. But, if we're going to hash out the details of that, then this isn't the best place. It's already been compromised." There wasn't a hint of accusation in his voice when he pointed that out, which Robin appreciated.

Robin sent out telepathically, _Where else is safe?_

 _The only safe places I can think of are the Watchtower and the Cave and I don't really think we want to bring them back there,_ Artemis answered immediately.

 _It would be a show of trust?_ Zatanna pointed out, sending out a metal shrug to go with it.

Rocket mentally pursed her lips, _Then why don't they bring us to their place?_

Aqualad's voice in their head was stern when he responded, _This is probably very difficult for them. The Circus has never worked with another organization before and the Justice League has tried to capture them on multiple occasions. It would not be fair to ask them to give up their base._

 _And it's fair for us to?_ Artemis asked angrily.

The Team was broken out of their silent conversation by Black Canary clearing her throat slightly, "We have a safe house not that far from here. If you'd like, we can lead you there and we'll finish our meeting in the house."

Robin raised an eyebrow, more than a little surprised at their willingness to burn a safe house like that. Aqualad inclined his head to them, "We would be grateful if you would take us in like that."

Supersonic nodded decisively, "Then that's what we'll do."

 **Author's Note: Yay! There's the next chapter! Alright, as per usual, I'm going to have a vote on who you want Wally's love interest to be. No Spitfire, no Birdflash, and no WallyxDinah because I've already written those, and I want to try something new. Only one vote per person per chapter! I'm going to ask for two reviews for another chapter! Thanks for reading this!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! Hey, just figured that I should let you know that Beast Boy's background is based on his legit comic book background so it makes more sense with the plot. Also, fun fact: if a character is named, then the character is real and from the DC comics universe. Try looking up the characters and learn a bit about them! It's a lot of fun. Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **HI – Thank you so much for reviewing, voting, and continuing to read my stories so faithfully!**

 **Guest 001 – You're actually the first person who voted for Lorraine. I wasn't really expecting that, to be honest, but I don't disapprove. Thanks for the review!**

 **Guest – I'm glad you like it! Thanks for the vote and the review!**

 **Guest – Thanks for the review and the vote!**

DDDDDD

Dick shuffled slightly from foot to foot, glancing around at the gathered group, "So… how are we going to get back to your safe house? We don't know the way and if we just follow you, then we're basically painting a path to your place."

The leader, Supersonic, gave him a momentary glance, but ended up addressing the entire group, "How does this sound for a plan? Changeling and Black Canary come back with me and the rest of the Circus goes with you guys in your – what did you call it? Bioship? – and lead you to the house. We'll have it unlocked for you guys when you get there."

Miss Martian made a worried noise, "The bioship is rather fast. Should we give you a head start?"

Ballistic laughed, a deep throaty sound that was kind of terrifying to hear, "Don't worry. He'll be there when we get there."

Supersonic brought the attention back to the matter at hand, "Are you alright with that idea, or do you want to do something else?"

Aqualad answered firmly, "We will go with this idea."

"Good." Supersonic nodded. The group split up around him, Changeling shifting into a little mouse and rushing up Supersonic's suit and into a small little compartment that Supersonic closed around the green creature. Black Canary waited leaned up against a tree, watching the group silently. Dick stared at her and Supersonic, not entirely certain how that was going to work. He didn't understand how they expected to beat the bioship back to the safehouse. Even with having to rely on directions, it shouldn't take that long to get the safehouse. Whatever. He was about to find out in a moment. No sense worrying about it.

He watched as Icicle and Supersonic shared a long, important look before Icicle moved over to the rest of the Circus, shepherding them over towards the gathered members of the Team. Mentally, Robin sent out, _Icicle is the second in command. Notice the way they're all following his lead? Weird that the first and second in command are both kids when there are two adults in the Circus. At least, they look like adults._

 _I'm kind of impressed_ , Zatanna sent back momentarily, _I mean, how hard did you guys fight to form this Team? And we still are technically led by Batman. We have to go through him for everything and Red Tornado is always watching us. Wonder Woman is a den mother too. It's impressive that they can run a team like that without having to work under adults._

Artemis grumbled back, _I'm not impressed_. Dick was pretty sure he heard Red Arrow snort off to the side.

Icicle was the one who approached them, "So, we gonna head out, or no? Because we're basically sitting ducks right now. I mean, whenever you're ready, but…"

Aqualad nodded his head in acknowledgement, "You are right. We should head out now. Everyone, please enter the bioship. Miss Martian, if you would make enough seats to accommodate all of our guests?"

As the mix of Circus members and Team members trooped onto the ship, Dick caught a brief sight of Supersonic's worried face, expression tense and concerned. It was obvious that he didn't actually trust the Team with his members, that he was just doing this to build good will between the two groups. It was a sign of a good alliance that he was willing to do that even though it obviously stressed him out.

When the ground of the ship shifted and morphed to add more chairs, Maser's mouth dropped open. His hands hovered just over one of the chairs, curious fingers coming close, but not actually touching the material of the chair, "How does this work? How does this morph like that? Is it technologically driven, or magic driven? What kind of neurological impulses would it require to alter the chemical structure like this? The material obviously changed from ground to chair which obviously has different chemical makeup. That's _so_ cool."

Icicle rolled his eyes fondly and threw out to the group at large, "You don't have to answer him when he's geeking out. Just let him bask in his loser-ness alone."

"Jerk." Maser mumbled. Icicle rolled his eyes again.

M'gann giggled prettily, "I'm not entirely certain how specifically it works. All I know is that I'm connected to the bioship in a sort of mind-link. Then I can use my telekinesis to alter the ship."

Maser nodded appraisingly, "Hmm…"

Dick noticed that the Circus members had yet to sit down even though the Team members were already buckled in. He gestured to the open seats, "Hey, you guys can go ahead and sit down. Any empty seats are open for you guys."

He watched carefully as Icicle took a deep breath before gently sitting himself down. He seemed to release a breath as he did so, running an icy hand over the side of the seat. The rest of the group follow suit. Miss Martian called out, "Would one of you be willing to direct me?" Icicle glanced over at Jinx. She stared expressionlessly back at him for a moment before sighing dramatically. She waggled her fingers in front of her and, shockingly enough, the air seemed to ripple in front of them. A chunk of earth lifted out of the ground, shifting and sifting dirt down onto the ground below until there was a perfectly formed dirt arrow in front of the ship.

Icicle beamed at Jinx and turned to Miss Martian, "Just follow where the arrow is pointing, and you'll get the safe house fine."

Miss Martian nodded, obviously surprised. Dick looked out the window again to stare at the dirt arrow, but a slight movement caught his attention. He watched in surprise as Supersonic – who appeared wiry and somewhat weak – picked up Black Canary, who was taller than him and seemed to be densely packed with muscles.

Supersonic seemed to have no trouble picking her up, cradling her in a bridal carry that seemed so natural that it was obvious that they'd done it before. Then, within a blink of an eye, the two were gone. The only sign that they had been there was the puff of loose dirt and a few lasting streaks of lightning. Dick stared with wide eyes and mouth hanging open.

He wasn't the only one. Rocket let out a strangled, "What just happened?"

Icicle smiled softly, "That's our fearless leader. Fastest person you'll ever meet."

Red Arrow asked incredulously, "That was him _running_? I thought he had teleported or something."

The hulking form that was Ballistic rumbled out a soft laugh, "It's like the kid said: fastest person you'll ever meet. Pretty nifty, isn't it? That's how he brought us all here. He ran us over and took different paths every time. That's how we knew that no one had followed us. No one's fast enough to follow him."

Rocket side-eyed Ballistic, glancing him up and down. He rumbled out another laugh, "Don't let that scrawny body deceive you. The leader's got some good muscles on him. He's carried me some impressive distances." Robin felt himself smiling. Despite how physically imposing Ballistic was, he seemed rather easy-going.

The same could be said for a lot of the metas. They certainly weren't anything like Dick had been expecting when this whole thing started. First of all, their powers definitely hadn't been exaggerated. If anything, the power of metas had been _under_ exaggerated. It was awe-inspiring to think about – scary too. These people had been human. They were born and raised normally just like all the other humans in the world. And then something happened, and they had these monumental powers, these enormous abilities that seemed nigh-godlike. Dick worked with aliens and Amazons and Atlanteans, but they were all something else. They weren't human like these people had been, like Dick was. They were born with these abilities, with the power and responsibility to wield them. The metas? They had power thrusted upon them. They had to make the decision of what to do with that power within moments of obtaining it. That was a recipe for disaster.

Second of all, though, was the fact that the metahumans didn't act anything like they were rumored to. Most of them were actually nice. Ballistic seemed to have a sense of humor and a contagious laugh, soft laugh lines adding character to his bright red complexion. Changeling had been nothing but bright smiles and snaggle teeth. Icicle had a look in his eyes like he was constantly laughing at something. None of them acted superior. When they explained something or another, they genuinely explained it. There was no pride or snobbery anywhere in their voices, only simple fact and slight humor.

Jinx seemed a little bit more like a stereotypical metahuman – brusque and put-upon when asked to do anything – but even that didn't seem to be specifically against the humans. From the interactions that Dick had seen, the rest of the members of the Circus fully expected her to act that way. It seemed as if she treated even them that way. She wasn't acting superior towards the humans.

Firehawk and Black Canary had been more outwardly cautious than the rest of the members of the Circus which made them appear more standoffish and anti-human, but Dick was fairly certain that they were just being protective of the rest of the group. The way Firehawk had smiled softly at the other members as they appeared in the clearing had shown that she thought very highly of them and was rather protective. Black Canary had the same kind of feel to her, along with a sense of age that gave her actions a motherly tint.

Maser gave off the impression of being completely oblivious to species lines. It was as if metahuman was human was Martian was Atlantean to him. There was no cautiousness, no worried hesitation lining his words. He was blunt and intelligent and completely uncaring. Dick thought that it was probably a good thing that Maser had the rest of the Circus to balance that out. There were a lot of problems that could arise from someone who was so ignorant of social cues.

Third of all, there was their leader. From the sparse and rumor riddled stories that had made its way to hero ears about the Circus, their leader had sounded like some sort of six-foot-tall hero with flowing hair and unstoppable power comparable to the gods. He had sounded like a grizzled old man who held his team together through tough love that led to respect. He certainly hadn't sounded like a thin, bony teenager who had a world-weary, exhausted set to his shoulders and lips that didn't quite seem able to form a smile.

The entirety of the Circus was a contradiction wrapped up in a riddle and Dick didn't know what to make of it. Most of the time, he liked challenges, liked unravelling mysteries. This time, though, there was too much on the line. The Light was dangerous. They were more than aware of the atrocities that would occur if the Light were to win, more than aware of the atrocities that had already occurred at the hands of the Light. The Team didn't have time to uncover the tangled complexities of the Circus. They needed compliance and a real alliance built on trust. Unfortunately, Dick figured there was a good chance the Circus wasn't going to give up their secrets so fast.

WWWWWW

Wally came down from the upstairs, having just ensured that there was nothing incriminating sitting out, and locking all the relevant doors. Garfield and Dinah were sat at the kitchen table, quietly locked in a battle of rock paper scissors. Wally raised an amused eyebrow, "Are you two fighting for something, or just determining which of you is the ultimate rock paper scissors champion?"

"The latter." Dinah answered distractedly, countenance faced towards the epic battle being played out between the two metas.

Rolling his eyes, Wally called out, "Everything good in the kitchen? Nothing I need to worry about?"

"Mhm." Gar answered, just as distractedly.

Amusedly, Wally watched the game play out, leaning against the door jam. He let his tense expression drop for a moment as he considered the heroes.

Honestly, they were about what he'd been expecting: ranging from openly hostile, to uncomfortable, to politely welcoming. Based on everything he'd witnessed about the heroes from television or news outlets, he'd gotten a good understanding of each member's character. They should think about fixing that. Even though they were a covert ops team that people weren't supposed to know about, all the people who mattered (other people invested in the world of heroes and villains) knew about them. All they had to do was watch TV that covered info on the cities that each hero protected, and they'd know a good deal about their character and their team dynamic placement. That was a weak link that they should consider fixing. It was probably too late already, but there was always a chance that it could be fixed.

Wally frowned, irritated. Why was he even thinking about what the Team could do better? Sure, their failings now reflected on and affected Wally's group, but that didn't mean that he needed to worry about it. He could protect his own if the need arose. He hoped the need didn't arise, but that was hardly relevant. It didn't matter what he thought the Team could do better. All that mattered was if he thought the alliance would work.

He certainly hoped so because he was burning a safe house for this alliance. If it didn't work, then he didn't know what he was going to do. The Circus's mole was still in the Light and would be difficult to extract without throwing the Circus into the Light's eye. And no one wanted that.

Luckily, it seemed as if the leader – Aqualad – was willing to work with them. He seemed to be the most willing, although Miss Martian and Superboy had appeared mostly impartial. Nothing they had done had seemed hostile, nor overly interested. Robin, however, had definitely seemed overly interested. There was something about the way he wore his domino mask, the way he stood that seemed as if Robin's eyes had been boring straight through him, into his soul. It wasn't a comfortable feeling.

Then again, Robin and his mentor Batman were known to be incredibly smart – detective types.

The others fell somewhere between Aqualad's polite determination and outright hostility, except Artemis. She sat firmly on the side of outright hostility. There was nothing but dark anger and disgust lining her expression. Wally wasn't sure what her specific problem was with metas, but there were people like her. They didn't just dislike metas; they actively went against metas and their ideals, purposefully aiming for metas to be completely removed from human society. They didn't want reintegration. All they cared about was making sure that they never had to interact with a meta in their lives.

It was people like that – they were growing in numbers recently, causing a movement and bringing a tidal wave of difficulties on the Circus – who made Wally wonder why he bothered. Why did he bother trying to fight for his kind? All that was going to happen was that they were going to be forever in hiding and on the run, illegal just for existing. For a lot of the kids and adults living the life of a meta, that wasn't what they wanted. Most of them just wanted to go home and go back to normal. What was the point of forcing them to live this endless game of cat and mouse where they were severely disadvantaged? Why force them to watch their fellow mice lose to the cat that was humanity? Why drag them into this bloody world where life was a gift that was treasured every second because that's how quickly it could be taken from you?

Then, Wally thought of blood stained scalpels, glinting needles, painful adhesive for cold electrodes, dark restraints, so much hideous, hated red.

That's why he fought this endlessly downhill battle. That was why he would continue to fight that battle for the rest of his life, no matter how much pain it caused, how many people lost their lives to the fight. He knew what it was like to give in and surrender to the Collection Agency. He knew what it was like to live that sort of awful life. He wouldn't put that on anyone if he could help it.

So, in the end, it was only Artemis that concerned him. With the rest, they were at least going to be civil as long as it took to defeat the light.

"Uh, Wally?" Garfield asked curiously, ears flicked back slightly.

Wally's head swung up towards Garfield, "Yep?"

Dinah sent him a mildly concerned look, "You were burning holes into the floor. We were getting kind of worried. Knowing our lives, there was a good chance that the floor actually did something to offend you."

"Oh, no. Just thinking." Wally answered, shaking his head and focusing back in on his team.

Garfield's ears perked back up, "Ooh, whatcha thinking about? Huh? _Huuuhhh_?"

Dinah hid a smile behind her hand as Wally rolled his eyes affectionately and ruffled Garfield's hair (to his consternation and Wally's amusement). Wally let out a soft sigh, "The heroes."

Dinah gave him a frankly impressive un-amused glance, "You were the one that convinced us to go with the heroes. Don't be having second thoughts on us now."

"No, no! That's definitely not what I meant!" Wally said, waving his hands around to make sure she understood, "I still think this is a good idea. Despite our setback, I think we're in a good place. I'm just worried about Artemis. She's… _very_ hostile to the idea of metas. And, yeah, we can work with that. Whatever. She has the same goal as that and I don't think she's the kind of person to mess that up just to get at us or something. I'm just worried about… our psyches I guess? We got out of a place that tore us down at every possible moment. We don't need someone else doing that to us again. Lorraine is finally smiling again. Jinx is finally getting to the end of working through her self-worth issues. I just don't want to see all that hard work and success dumped down the drain. You guys are important to me and I don't want to see you hurt."

"We'll work through it. We always do. I'd rather take a setback or two than let the Light take over the world." Dinah smirked at the end, trying to lighten the mood.

Garfield smiled suddenly and said brightly, "Thanks for sharing that with us, Wally."

Dinah looked surprised before grinning too, "That's true. You really are growing, Wally."

Wally rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah. I get it." Sometimes, it seemed like they spent a little too much time together. And by a little, he meant a lot. _A lot_.

A high-pitched beeping interrupted whatever (probably rude) thing Dinah was about to say, indicating that the bioship was pretty close. The trio looked to each other, sending one last glance around the room to make sure that there wasn't anything really obvious out around them. Satisfied that there was nothing, Wally made his way towards the door, flipping the locks and opening it. He stood there in the doorway, hip against one beam of wood as he watched the bioship land in his front yard, sending puffs of dirt lazily into the air.

Slowly, people trooped out of the bioship. His team came out first, Cameron sending him a small nod to let him know that it was all good and that no one had been hurt in the transition from the field to the safe house. Wally sent him a relieved nod back, some of the tension leaking from his figure.

The tension came right back in when the Team started exiting the bioship. The alien spaceship turned invisible the moment Miss Martian exited it and Wally raised an interested eyebrow. He'd _love_ to know the science behind that.

But now wasn't really the time.

Wally called out to the gathered people, "Come on in. We can talk in the dining room. There should be enough seats." Wally stepped to the side, letting the Team walk in ahead of him, Dinah and Gar leading the group into the dining room. The rest of the Circus walked in, clapping him on the shoulder or sending him a small grin (or rolling her eyes and glaring in Jinx's case). Cameron was the only one who lingered. The two stood outside the door and Cameron made a complicated set of hand motions that basically equated to: no new information – no one made threats – civil travels. It wasn't exactly sign language because neither had really learned it before the Collection Agency got them, but it was their own improvised version. They were in the process of learning actual sign language, so they could communicate more accurately.

The dining room was… awkward when they got there. It wasn't exactly tense, a minimal amount of hatred permeating the room. It was more like they weren't sure how to interact with each other. The Team acted like this was the first time they had seen a real metahuman (which was perfectly likely) and wasn't quite certain if metas could be approached in any manner that they had learned before. The members of the Circus were acting similarly, glancing at each other to see if they could get someone else to talk first. It was awkward.

Thankfully, the Circus had Cameron there to fix that. No one on the Circus was really all that good at the whole social interaction thing, but Cameron and Lorraine had it down the best. Lorraine was better at negotiating where Cameron was better at relaxing a group of people.

Cameron clapped his hands together and said, "Alright, this is going to be hard for all of us. I don't know about you guys, but we've never really worked with another established group before. This is new territory. I expect it's about the same for you?" He waited until he received a nod before continuing on, "Cool. Well, we'll discover it together. It can't be that hard. First, we need to get the actual basics of our team-up down. In writing preferably. We're old-fashioned that way." Cameron sent the Team a winning smile that made a few of them smile back, but Artemis was definitely not smiling.

She was glaring at Cameron. Then she switched her glare onto Wally and the speedster wasn't surprised when she asked, "Do you always do all the speaking for your leader, or no?"

Aqualad hissed, "Artemis!"

Cameron, however, laughed, "Nah man, it's all good. Typically, yeah, I'll do a lot of the initial talking. We go over what Supersonic wants me to say before the actual thing and I get the conversation started. Fearless leader is a little shy, you know."

Wally punched him, hand blurring in a burst of lightning as he did so, "Shut _up_ , Icicle."

" _Ow_!" Cameron bemoaned, rubbing at his arm pathetically, "Thanks for punching me at _super speed_. Jerk." Wally was pretty sure he saw Superboy ducking his head to hide a smile but couldn't be sure.

Wally rolled his eyes, "Icicle is one of our best at communications. He's the smoother one, so we typically let him do the opening notes. The group as a whole discusses where we're going to go with something and then I make the final decision. Is there a problem with that?"

Aqualad answered for Artemis, "No, of course not. It was a simple misunderstanding."

Taking pity on the Team, Wally slumped a little in his chair and furrowed his brow, "You don't have to be so formal or… careful with us, you know. We get that this is a new experience for you guys too. You don't understand how we work. You don't trust us – don't try to deny what we both already know. It's understandable that there's going to be some confusion and suspicion. As long as you continue to be open in your questions and criticisms like Artemis has been, then we can answer honestly, and everything will be fine. We can't fix a problem if we don't know about it, okay?" Artemis looked honestly taken aback, a sharp, calculating expression on her face that told Wally that she would definitely be taking advantage of that practical free-reign he'd just give her.

Aqualad carefully looked at Wally, searching his masked face for a moment before nodded decisively and saying, "Of course. Please, that offer stands for us too. If there is any problem you feel it necessary to address with the Team, please simply state it to us and we will attempt to solve it."

Garfield narrowed his eyes, "Do you always talk so formal, or is that just an I'm-currently-a-leader thing?"

There was definitely a hint of a smile on Aqualad's face before he answered easily, "I am always so formal. I have served my King for a long time and it is taught to those who serve the King that they are to speak this way. It is so we do not accidently offend others who could be potential allies to my King."

"King?" Gar asked curiously, eyes lighting up, "Like, the King of Atlantis? That King?"

The smile wasn't so much of a hint now as a definite tiny smile, "Yes, Changeling. King Arthur of Atlantis, Aquaman."

There was genuine wonder in Gar's expression as he looked up at Aqualad, "I've always wanted to visit Atlantis. But whenever I'm swimming close enough to go down there, we're always on a mission, so I'm never able to just visit." Aqualad blinked at Garfield before his eyes slid carefully over to Wally. For a moment, Wally was confused, but then he realized that Aqualad was concerned for Wally's sake about the amount of information Garfield was giving out. Wally almost rolled his eyes. What could the Team do with the knowledge that a couple of the Circus's missions were near(ish) Atlantis? The concern was touching anyways.

Wally put a hand on Garfield's shoulder, "Maybe you can ask him more about it later. We really do have to get down the details of this agreement. I think leadership should be our number one priority. Can your Team operate under a joint leadership, or will we have to remain separate entities who collude on mission plans?"

Aqualad glanced at his Team for a moment and Wally followed his gaze. There was definitely some kind of telepathic communication there. Wally would bet money on it. There was no way they were making decisions like they did without telepathy. Aqualad inclined his head, "I believe that a joint leadership would be the most beneficial to this alliance. Therefore, our teams would operate under the purview of myself, as leader of the Team, and you, as leader of the Circus. Is this acceptable to you?"

Wow, this was boring. Wally knew it was going to be, but Aqualad's formal tone actually made it worse. Wow. Wally nodded, "Yeah, works for the Circus. As an addition to that, Icicle acts as leader in the case that I am unavailable for some reason or another."

Red Arrow raised an eyebrow, "Has that happened before? Should we expect that?"

Wally wrinkled his nose, "No, not really. The only times Icicle has taken charge is when I was out on a mission and he stayed behind, and something came up. I'm fast, but not always fast enough to complete a mission and get back in time to deal with whatever other crisis came up. I trust Icicle enough to deal with things like that." Cameron nodded to him with a smirk. His eyes were soft and trusting, though, thankful for the trust that Wally had given him. Wally nodded back.

"How does that work?" Rocket asked. Wally turned to her, tilting his head curiously. She flushed slightly and added, "We were thinking about it earlier and we were just wondering how having you two as the leader and second in command worked? I mean, you've got adults in the Circus, so…"

Dinah flicked her hair behind her head, "Oh please, like I'd ever volunteer to look after this crazy bunch. They're insane."

Kelvin let out a laugh, "That's the truth. These kids are crazy. Only Supersonic's patience can really handle all of that."

"I don't know. Some days, you guys really test me." Wally muttered under his breath. Superboy sent him an inscrutable glance that Wally really wasn't sure how to respond to.

Rocket pressed, "Well, I can see how that would be the case, but seriously, why have him lead? Did he just take charge, or did you pick him, or?" She trailed off and stared at them expectantly. The Circus shifted their looks onto Wally and he just shrugged.

Icicle sighed and said, "It was kind of a mix of both? He's, uh…" Cameron faltered for a moment, glancing quickly at Wally before turning back to Rocket again, "He's the one who came up with the plan to get out of the camp we were at. It was trust him to lead us out or stay at the camp. We all trusted him to get us out. When we found out that he was planning on creating the Circus – running it solo, actually – we knew that we needed to join in on it."

Robin piped up next, "What is it that you guys do, exactly? What's the point of the Circus?"

Wally had this one, "The Circus is designed to aid in the rescue, recovery, and, if needed, rehabilitation of metahumans. We're the superhero team of the meta world, basically."

"The version that kills at least." Artemis commented under her breath.

Lorraine frowned, eyes flashing a little bit, "It's kill or be killed."

Lorraine looked like she was about to get into a whole rant about that statement and the expectations leveled at them and political unfairness or something, so Wally jumped in, "Why don't we move to the next part of the alliance. Communication? How do we want that to work?"

"Would you be amiable to having our communication devices with you for us to communicate that way?" Aquaman asked.

Wally tilted his head to the side, thinking. There was a really good chance that there was going to be a tracker slipped in with the comms devices. They couldn't stay at one safe house for the duration of this mission and, besides, there was a chance that something would come up at the metahuman colony and a member of the Circus would have to go there. The Circus couldn't have potential trackers with them when they went to places like that. They'd be burning safe houses and entire cities. Wally winced a little and said, "That won't work for us. Our lifestyle involves a lot of moving around. I was willing to burn this safehouse for our alliance, but I won't burn more than this one."

"How would having a comm burn a safehouse?" Robin asked curiously. He was obviously testing Wally.

Wally met his gaze (as well as he could through each of their respective masks) and responded levelly, "You must think I'm an idiot if you think I don't know you're planning on dropping trackers wherever you can. This is an alliance that you need, but why not kill two birds with one stone? Take down the Light and gather the info necessary to bring us down while you're at it? Obviously, that will be your goal the entire time and I can't stop that, but I can minimize the damage."

Robin and Wally kept their gazes locked for a moment longer. Robin was appraising Wally, trying to see something in the speedster's countenance. When Robin finally looked away, Wally wasn't sure if he had found what he was looking for or not. Red Arrow had been watching their interaction, something curious and lightly confused in his expression as he turned away from Robin and towards Wally, "We're not faking wanting to work with you for this. We can't take on the Light where we're at now. We need some sort of leg up and you guys are the best way to it. But you are, according to pretty much every form of police in the world, criminals. Escaped convicts practically."

Wally's voice was cool when he asked, "Then why work with us at all? Some of you obviously believe that we're nothing more than the criminals the world accuses us as. Surely, there are alternatives for alliances. Why work with a team you don't trust and can't get close to? Why work with a team you intend to dismantle?"

It was Miss Martian who answered, voice more serious than he had heard it so far, "We're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Not all of us are so willing to judge you right away. Some of us are reserving judgement. Maybe you'll surprise us." She added that sweet smile that she seemed to have perfected, a little upwards tip of her lips that was compounded by the practical sparkle in her eyes.

Wally let himself relax. This wasn't the time nor place for that confrontation. The Circus had agreed that they didn't actually care what the Team thought about them or what their plans were for them. The Circus would just have to be careful around the Team. That was all. Through the thick tension in the room, Harold cocked his head to the side and asked, "So, how were we going to do the whole communicating thing again?"

Red Arrow sighed, "If we can't communicate through comms, then I'm not sure what you want. Obviously, the easiest method would be to just stick together, find a common HQ, but I'm not sure that would work. This place is not convenient for us and you guys don't want to burn another safe house and we don't want to give up our HQ."

"Still," Kelvin mused, "The idea has merit. If we can find a place to gather all of us together, that would probably be the best option."

Jinx smirked, "Maybe we could all live in the Hall of Justice. Everyone knows where that is and it's obviously not the actual Justice League headquarters."

Zatanna and Artemis both shot Jinx slightly panicked looks which confirmed Jinx's theory more than anything. Wally rolled his eyes, "Stop messing with them, Jinx."

Red Arrow threw out, "If you guys move around so much that you can't work over comms, then how will that be any different if you live with us? We would still need to contact you over comms to get you back to wherever we're staying."

"At least one member of the Circus would stay in the place we choose at all times. They'll know how to contact the rest of us without needing your comms." Wally responded easily. It was something the group had already talked about.

"That sounds inconvenient at best." Robin frowned, shaking his head.

Red Arrow disagreed, "It also sounds like the best case scenario. Maybe, with time, we'll start to trust each other a little bit more and more avenues will be open to us. For now? This is the best way to ensure that no one's toes are being stepped on."

"We're two groups who have zero reason to trust each other. We're metas, so obviously you can't trust us. Your mentors' team has tried to capture us on multiple occasions, so obviously we can't trust you. This really is the best case scenario." Dinah threw out, sending a nod in Red Arrow's direction. The whites of his mask widened slightly before he nodded back.

Wally turned to his group, "Is the Circus alright with this being our solution?" He received nothing but nods in return, the idea already having been thrown around when they were talking about starting the alliance in the first place.

Aqualad nodded and then announced, "The Team accepts this solution as well." They must have decided that through their telecommunication. Wally wished one of the Circus attack team members had telepathy. That sounded so much easier than comms.

"So, next we've got to decide on a location. Is there anywhere we know of that would work as a safe location for us to all live for a while?" Cameron asked, leaning forward.

Kelvin added on, "Any part of the country is relatively convenient for us. Fearless leader can take us wherever we need to go from wherever you need to be."

"Please, feel free to use me as a pack mule. I don't mind. It's really no bother." Wally muttered sarcastically, resigned to his fate.

Garfield grinned at him, one canine longer than the rest of his teeth, "You're the one who circumnavigates the world as a warm up run!" Wally's cheeks heated as the Team turned to stare at him incredulously. So what? Sue him if he could run fast enough that going around the entire world is the best way to get an actual work out.

"Anyways," Wally said acidly, sending Garfield a glare that the green kid just grinned at blissfully, "Whatever location works for you should work for us. If it's necessary, we can buy a property near where you want and use that, or you guys can offer a location you already have. The choice is up to you."

Aqualad glanced around the group before asking politely, "May we take a break to contact our mentors and try to find a location?"

"Of course." Wally said, gesturing towards the door. The Team stood up and left, a few of them leaving with friendly waves. Wally deflated the moment he heard the front door close, "This is so _boring_."

Jinx muttered rebelliously, "At least you're not the one transcribing it."

"That hardly counts. It's like flexing your arm for you to do that." Cameron sneered. The two immediately moved into a glaring match.

Dinah rolled her eyes, but looked at Wally, "I'm starting to get nervous with the questions that they're asking. They're not all that afraid of asking whatever they want. So far, we haven't refused to answer a question, but something like that is going to come up soon. I can't imagine that Artemis would take it very well if we did."

"Screw her." Cameron said passionately, a frown tugging the corners of his lips down, "I don't get what her problem is! The rest of her merry crew of meta-haters can at least keep their opinion to themselves long enough to be professional, but she can't even manage that much. What should we care if she doesn't like the fact that we're protecting ourselves and our people from her kind?"

"Icicle!" Wally barked, eyes darkening and cold, "Cool down. This isn't about 'her kind' versus ours. This is about the Light. Any sort of aggressiveness does nothing but let the Light win. We can't let ourselves think about that at the moment. Okay?" His voice had softened immediately after he'd seen Cameron's shoulders rise in an effort to make himself seem smaller. Wally sighed and ran a hand over his face, "Sorry, Icicle. I just… this is important. We've got an operative in there. We agreed on this and we agreed to remain civil. I didn't mean to snap, but her attitude is stressing me out too."

Cameron closed his eyes, passing a hand over his face, "I know. And I'm sorry. It just makes me so mad that she gets to act like that and _I_ have to behave. She's just one of those people who thinks that they have all the information and they act all high and mighty because of it. I bet she's one of those people who thinks that the camps are actually _helping_ us. I hate having to be the bigger man, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Wally sent him a little grin, "But you're great at it."

"Flattery with get you nowhere." Cameron grinned back, a little wider, but also a little more forced than Wally's had been.

Harold blinked at them, "It's simultaneously terrifying and amazing to see you two fight. It's terrifying because you two never fight and it's weird seeing you do it when you're like, our _rocks_ or something. It's amazing because you somehow always resolve your fights within five minutes. I've literally never seen you fight for longer than that."

"It's Stockholm Syndrome. I've molded our fearless leader to my ideals." Cameron announced.

"You've _what_? And what Stockholm Syndrome? You've never kidnapped me." Wally said, genuinely curious at to where Cameron was getting that comparison.

Cameron raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth. He closed it and then opened it again, "I admit defeat. I actually can't back that one up." Wally snorted.

He was about to say something, but there was a heavy sound of the door opening and footsteps trooping through the doorway. The Team had returned.

 **Author's Note: Kind of awkward place to stop, but I figured that this was getting on a little too long and should probably be split into two chapters. Sorry! Anyways, three reviews for another chapter! Oh, also, keep voting! So far, Jinx is in the lead with Cameron and Lorraine tied for second. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Okay, so just to let you guys know, I do have a schedule for updating. Normally, I will update every weekend. The Thursday update and this update are both just because of the weird schedule that comes with trying to move and do college stuff at the same time. This upcoming weekend, I should be back on track. Alright, read, review, and enjoy!**

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 **Anett -** **Muchas gracias por la maravillosa revisión y la votación!**

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DDDDDD

Dick had more than a little to think about as the Team filed outside to contact their mentors. He hadn't necessarily underestimated the Circus. They had just blown apart every expectation that he could have had of them. Their first and second in command being kids? Not even a consideration. The strength and possibilities of the abilities of the three members who had shown their powers? Unprecedented. Their calm and even keeled temper? Definitely not expected. That was not how metas were supposed to act. At all.

Their leader, Supersonic, was definitely intelligent and the control he had over his group was quite frankly impressive. It was obvious that they had discussed tons of different options before this whole thing even started and that he knew what his team's opinion would be on any topic because he never even consulted them, and they didn't seem at all shocked at the calls he made. The kind of foresight and understanding of superhero alliances that would be necessary to predict all portions of the alliance that had been suggested in so far was unbelievable. All in all, Dick found himself impressed.

It seemed that the rest of the group was impressed as well. Even Artemis seemed grudgingly impressed and Dick could admit that it was for a good reason. He was just as shocked as the rest of the Team when Supersonic applauded Artemis's rude questions instead of getting upset at them. Another contradiction to the normal image of metahumans.

Kaldur's calm voice broke Dick out of his reverie, "Robin, may you please make contact with the League?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure thing!" Dick started tapping at his arm computer, pulling up a large holographic and pressing the few buttons necessary to call the League. There was a waiting symbol on the screen as they waited for the League to accept the call.

After a moment of waiting, the council room of the Watchtower filled the holographic, Batman sitting front and center, "Report."

Dick immediately straightened at the tone of voice, but it was Kaldur who answered, as leader, "The initial meeting place was disturbed by Ra's al Ghul's assassins. The Circus allowed us to reconvene in one of their safehouses. We have been discussing the terms of our alliance. So far, it has been decided that we shall operate under a joint leadership between myself and their leader, Supersonic. We have also agreed that we shall both operate out of a common headquarters for the duration of our alliance. We were allowed this short break in order to contact you in order to find a location that would be optimal for our joint accommodations."

Batman shared a look with Superman, waiting for a nod before he spoke, "There is a location that could work. Do you remember the headquarters of the Injustice League in Bayou Bartholomew? We have been refashioning it into a potential place of operations should the Watchtower be compromised. It has a zeta beam and enough room for the bioship and places for all of you to sleep. There is a functional kitchen, training room, and control room. It should fit your needs. The Circus cannot be allowed access to the zeta beam, though."

Dick grimaced, "They have an _alternate_ method of transport."

"What do you mean?" Batman growled.

Roy responded, "Their leader? Supersonic? The kid can run faster than anything I've ever seen. I'd be he could beat you, Superman, in a race. That's how they get around from place to place. He runs people one or two at a time."

"Kid?" Green Arrow asked sharply, "I'm sorry, but did you just say that a _kid_ was the leader of the Circus?"

"There are six teenagers and two adults in the Circus that we've met. Apparently, there is one other, but that one is currently undercover in the Light. Two of the teenagers are the first and second in command. According to them, Supersonic was the one who came up with the plan for all of them to run away from the camp they were in and he was planning on running the Circus completely by himself, so they decided they would join him and have him be leader. I don't know why Icicle is second in command, though." Artemis responded. Her voice was surprisingly even-tempered and unaccusatory. Dick and Roy both glanced over at her in shock at the same time.

Green Arrow's expression was pinched when he said, "I actually cannot comprehend that."

"Not surprising," Roy sneered. A muscle ticked in Green Arrow's jaw, but he refrained from getting into a fight at that moment. Dick rolled his eyes.

Batman pulled the conversation back to where it was supposed to be, "Give me a rundown on their abilities."

"We haven't seen all of them, but we've seen a good number of them. Supersonic, the leader, has some sort of super speed. Icicle, the second in command, is physically made of ice, but he's refrained from using abilities at the moment. Changeling, who acted as looked out, has changed from a bird to a human to a mouse and back to a human in the time we've met him, so I would guess that his powers involved changing into any animal. Firehawk, who was the face of the group, can transform from a normal looking teenaged girl to a… a creature with wings and fire for hair who can throw fire. Ballistic hasn't displayed any powers, but he has very thick looking red skin and he has horns and a lot of weapons and he's massive. Black Canary hasn't displayed any powers. Maser hasn't displayed any powers. Jinx was able to move earth and can move a pen across paper without even looking at it." Dick answered easily, having already compiled the list in his head, anticipating his mentor's questions.

Batman's expression was sharp and piercing even under the cowl and Dick knew that the two of them would be talking it over in more depth later. Wonder Woman frowned, "And their behavior? Have they been overly hostile?"

The Team glanced at each other, not sure how to answer the question. Kaldur haltingly explained, "They have been nothing but cordial and accommodating. When… certain members of our own Team acted rudely, they were unfazed and simply encouraged our questions and concerns, claiming that blunt honesty and forward questions were welcomed. Firehawk seems to be the most hesitant to trust us and Jinx seems to have the strongest disdainful attitude, but that is directed towards her own teammates as often as it is directed towards us."

Wonder Woman's frown deepened, "That is very… odd for a group of metahumans."

"You said earlier that they had a spy in the Light, right? What's that person's deal?" Green Lantern asked, lounging back in his chair.

"They haven't told us anything about them. Not even a gender." Zatanna offered.

Green Arrow's brow furrowed, "That's going to have to change. I mean, how can you fight against the Light without even knowing which member to look out for?" Aqualad nodded to him in agreeance.

Nodding sharply, Batman signed off with, "We will contact you for more information later." He didn't even give them a chance to respond. Dick sighed, not really all that surprised.

Artemis scowled, "I'm glad that Batman didn't turn you into a brooding, rude hero, Robin."

Dick laughed, "Me too."

Kaldur gave them a rare smile before gesturing back towards the rather nice two-story house that the Circus was using as a safe house. Raquel glanced up at it, tilting her head to the side in confusion, "They said they've got several safe houses across the country, right? How do you suppose they afford all that? I mean, sure, a house out here in the middle of nowhere has got to be relatively cheap, but still. You know that the accounts of adult metas are frozen as soon as they're put into camps and are monitored if they escape, so they obviously aren't using money from the two adults. The kids would be in the same situation. So, where does the money come from?"

"They probably steal it," Artemis said, scowling, "What would they care about stealing from a few humans?"

" _Or_ they could have rich metahuman or human benefactors. You know that there are some humans who are super sympathetic to the cause of metahumans and would do stuff like donate a ton of money." Roy threw back, scowling just as fiercely.

Dick rolled his eyes, "I'll look into the rich people of the world and see if I can find something that would match a possible benefactor. Yay, homework for tonight."

"I'm not as good at it, but I'll join you." Roy responded, giving Dick a significant look that Dick knew to mean they were going to talk. Kaldur threw him that same look. Dick wanted to roll his eyes again. Set up in a new hideout. Research all the rich people in the world. Have serious conversation. Apparently, don't sleep. Fantastic.

The Team trudged back into the safe house, closing the door and making their way to the dining room. They sat back in the seats they had been in before. The Circus was staring at them, as polite as staring at someone could be. Icicle's shoulders were curled in just the slightest bit, not noticeable to others, but plenty obvious to someone like Dick. His smile was forced when he aimed one at the incoming Team members. Supersonic's perpetual frown seemed deeper than it had before they'd left, a slightly hurt set to his chin. Dick asked mentally, _Superboy, do you know what they were talking about? Icicle and Supersonic seem more stressed out and upset than they were when we left._

Superboy sent a mental shake of a head back, _The whole house is soundproofed. They couldn't hear us, but I couldn't hear them either._

 _It seems like Icicle and Supersonic had an argument,_ Zatanna commented, frowning slightly. Dick frowned too, agreeing. He wondered what they argued about. Was the Circus not as coherent on their opinions of the leader's decisions as it had seemed? Were they that good at hiding their feelings? Or was it something else? Dick wanted to know what they were talking about.

 _Should we just ask them about it?_ M'gann sent out.

Roy raised his eyebrows, _That seems a little personal, don't you think?_

 _I mean, they did say we could ask them anything_ , Raquel sent back with a mental shrug.

Kaldur shut down the conversation with, _I agree with Red Arrow. They had given us free reign, but we should not abuse it this early in the alliance._ The Team all sent back mental nods to show that they understood.

Supersonic's voice washed over them, "Have you found a location?"

"Yes," Kaldur answered immediately, "We can give you the exact coordinates after the meeting, but it is in Bayou Bartholomew."

"Out of curiosity, why this location? You don't have to answer, but I'm just wondering," Ballistic asked, leaning back in his chair and cutting an imposing figure. The image was dampened by the easy smile on his large face.

After a second of pause, Roy responded, "It's already got a zeta beam installed. That's what we use to get from one place to the next easily. Since we've all got civilian identities, we need to be able to get from whatever city we typically reside in to our HQ relatively quickly. Zeta beams make that happen."

The Team members shifted uncomfortably, anticipating questions about the zeta beams and the possibility of the Circus using them. They didn't want to have to shoot them down. Supersonic, once again, surprised them by scowling and saying, "Wait, so you have to put one of those things in every single place you want to be able to go? That sounds so inconvenient. And how would that even work? It sounds like you'd be, like, disassembled and then reassembled on the other side. Or are you opening some sort of portal every time that happens? Disassembling yourself sounds like trash, but opening a portal and, eventually, tearing space in that location sounds even worse. Or is there some sort of transport procedure that you've been able to create? I don't even want to know. Running is faster."

"Whoa," Maser said, turning slightly in his chair to give his leader an incredulous glance, "I'm sorry, did you just insult the sanctity of disassembling oneself in the name of transport? If so, then I am horribly offended."

Zatanna interrupted before Supersonic could say anything, "Wait, you can do what now?"

"Ah," Icicle chuckled, scratching the back of his head, "I think that should be our next order of business. We can't really work all that well together if we don't know what abilities we have."

Supersonic grimaced, "Obviously, we know a good portion of what you guys can do. Enough of your fights – your individual, per city fights – are televised that really anyone can study your fighting patterns and abilities." Dick glanced around his teammates in alarm. No one they had faced off against had seemed to use that against them, but it was completely true. Their everything was displayed on television, from strengths to weaknesses to quirks. That should probably be addressed. Supersonic continued, "Therefore, you only really need to know about our powers. We're definitely not thrilled with the idea of giving you this much of an advantage, but it's necessary to be able to fight together and create legitimate strategies. I guess I'll start. I serve as the leader. I'm a speedster. I run really fast. I heal really fast. I think really fast. I can do all related things that come from having control over the speed of each of your molecules."

Artemis's mouth twitched, so Dick sent to her, _Don't fight this. It's asking them a lot to share that much._

Artemis scowled back at him, _I don't think he could have been less informative if he'd have tried._

 _Robin's right. He's given us hints and we'll learn more when we train and fight with them_ , Raquel added. Artemis's scowl deepened, but she didn't say anything.

Icicle spoke up next, looking physically pained as he spoke, "I'm the second in command and I'm the networking guy. As you can see, I can turn myself into ice. I have cryokinesis. That's about it."

Black Canary smiled at her leaders and turned to face the Team, "I'm in charge of hand to hand training. I've got a… canary cry. Basically, I scream _really_ loudly." Zatanna raised her eyebrows, obviously confused as to how that could be a superpower. Dick secretly agreed. How loud would you have to scream for that to be useful.

Roy frowned, "Wouldn't that just be detrimental to your teammates?"

"We've got earbuds that specifically filter her Canary Cry. We can outfit you with some of those. I'm the tech guy, by the way. I can transmute into or ride on energy waves and I can fly at superhuman speeds." Maser answered, already pulling out a tablet. Dick could see specs on the earbuds on the screen. He was going to have to scan those for trackers.

Beast Boy raised his hand excitedly, "Me next! I'm the tracker! I can turn into any animal I've seen or heard of. Including dinosaurs! They're all green, which is kind of inconvenient for camouflage, but it still works." His eyes were bright and happy, snaggle tooth peaking out over his lower lip.

Firehawk was significantly calmer when she said, "I'm, as you saw, the political negotiator. I'm, well, a Firehawk. You saw pretty much what I can do." The Team nodded in response.

After a second's pause, Jinx sighed and said, "I'm the magic _expert_. I can do magic – not the same as Zatanna's, that's something more than I could do – and I can do energy projection. Pyrokinesis, flight, geokinesis, telekinesis. That." Dick stared at the slim girl in front of him with surprise. He would definitely need to not underestimate someone by their size.

"What about your spy?" Artemis asked, eyes sharp under her cowl. The Team turned to face Supersonic, curious as well.

His expression darkened, "That, I'm afraid, I can't answer."

"Why not?" Artemis demanded.

Supersonic scowled, "I will not risk our spy's life. We've already seen that there's a leak somewhere as evidenced by the fiasco in the field we met in. I'm not going to let it get back to the Light who the spy is. I've already risked enough by telling you that we have a spy in the first place."

Artemis shook her head, "And if we go against the Light and we don't know who the spy is? We could compromise their location. We could make them fail, make them lose credibility and therefore influence. Without knowing who they are, we could easily jeopardize their place in the Light and their life."

"Or I could assign them the death penalty. This information is not on the table. Until you can _prove_ that there is no mole, no leak on your team, you do not get to know who the spy is. If you continue to push this, the alliance is forfeit. That's how serious I am." Supersonic answered, voice hard steel like they hadn't heard it before. It was obvious to see that he'd been easy-going and calm before. Now, there was an angry leader, being provoked. His protective side was being activated and he was not amused by that. Almost subconsciously, the speedster's movements minimized, and his breathing calmed, all in preparation for a fight.

Dick intervened before the moment could escalate any further, "We totally understand that. You have legitimate reasons. We don't want to push you into revealing anything. Even if you don't believe that we want your spy to be safe, you can at least believe that we want your information source to remain. Artemis has a legitimate concern. Without foreknowledge of who the spy is, we could inadvertently harm them. We don't want to hurt your spy anymore than you do."

"That's not how being a spy works." Supersonic frowned, sounding slightly calmer even though the edge of steel was still there, "You have to be able to treat the spy like they're an actual member of the Light. If you can't fight against them with full strength, someone will notice. The members of the Light are intelligent. They'll figure something out. Besides, I know you don't know the person we've got on the inside, but I think you're doubting their abilities a little bit. We wouldn't put them undercover if we thought they couldn't hold their own. And that spy is the one we use most often as an undercover agent." His voice had lost the steel by the end, going back to the slightly amused, definitely stressed, slightly wary tone of voice he'd used through the rest of the meeting.

Kaldur smiled amicably, trying to get the meeting back on track, "I would be interested in meeting someone whose abilities you call formidable. With the force you have backing you, I cannot imagine the power of your spy."

"Yeah, they're really something." Supersonic smiled softly. After a second, he shook his head, "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to snap. I don't like being backed into a corner when one of my teammate's lives is on the line."

"It is completely understandable," Kaldur assured him. Supersonic and Icicle made significant eye contact, but Dick couldn't ascertain what it meant.

Black Canary broke through the tense silence that had settled over the room, "Is there anything else that needs to be discussed? We are working under a joint leadership. We will be based at a location in Bayou Bartholomew. We know each other's powers. The spy will remain anonymous. Anything else?"

Dick was about to shake his head before he had an idea, "You guys do know that we work under members of the League, right? Batman assigns us missions while Red Tornado and Wonder Woman act as supervisors in our main headquarters. The League is going to want to have that same supervision and the same process to go through missions. Are you good with that?"

He watched as Supersonic grimaced, "You _what_? What's the point of having your own team if you are basically led by someone else. Isn't that the same as splitting up one team? Alpha group and beta group kind of thing. I was under the impression that you were your own team."

"Well, we are just kids." M'gann started.

Icicle, frowning just as much as Supersonic, interrupted her, "So are we! Kids can make decisions just as well as adults. You're heroes. It's almost a requirement for a superhero to have an awful past. That's going to make your mature beyond your years. So, what's the point of having an extra layer of command? That's unnecessary and confusing and just overcomplicates things. It's like the League is creating a bureaucracy! You shouldn't have red tape on a superhero team!"

Dick and the rest of the Team stared at the Circus members in confusion. They were articulating everything that the Team had been trying to communicate to their mentors for months. It was incredible that a team that had met them mere hours ago could grasp that where their mentors couldn't. It really was amazing what parental feeling could block out.

Raquel shook her head in shock, "Remind me again how the adults of the Circus are okay with this."

Black Canary smiled softly at them, "Like we mentioned earlier, the two of us certainly couldn't keep this crazy lot in line. But, I guess… I mean… they face the world with a different view. Supersonic and Icicle, specifically have a very serious outlook and incredibly sharp minds that are very well suited towards not only leading us, but working together. The two of them almost seem to share a mind and that's pretty helpful for a first and second in command."

Ballistic nodded along with her, "Besides, my personal belief is that Supersonic's powers aren't just superspeed. I think he's got some sort of glue power. The power to glue a group of misfits together." Supersonic rolled his eyes and made a face in the background.

Shaking his head and trying to hide a smile, Kaldur brought the conversation back on track, "Nevertheless, the way our group is organized will remain for the foreseeable future. Is this acceptable to the Circus?"

Supersonic's lips tightened. He left his fingers pressed against the table, head tilted downwards. The rest of the Circus watched him think, glancing between each other. Dick saw Black Canary subtly shift her head to the side in a questioning glance. Icicle subtly responded with a small shrug. This, from what Dick could read of their interactions, was the first time that the Circus was going to have to go completely off of what their leader decided.

As much as Dick wished that the Team was a completely separate identity that could act with at least a little bit more independence, he was momentarily grateful for the control because this way he could see how the Circus would react when surprised and pressured. It was gratifying to know that something of their organization and abilities was hidden from prying eyes. It had been somewhat of a disturbance to realize how much the Circus knew about them.

Frowning deepening, Supersonic lifted his head, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck and sighing, "That is acceptable to the Circus." The room relaxed, both teams settling back in their seats now that the big decisions were over with. There would be little things that they needed to iron out, but, for now, they had created a working agreement.

Dick relaxed, too. He was more than relieved that everything was able to be worked out. He was still a little miffed about the fact that the Circus wasn't going to tell the Team any more information about their spy, but he understood. It was obvious how worried Supersonic was about all of his members, but especially about the one who was in enemy territory.

There was some tenseness with the fact among the rest of the team. Dick wondered how happy the Circus was that their member was stuck in an organization as large and influential as the Light. Frowning, Dick asked into the silence, "Why are you going after the Light at all? Their members are mainly human, and their interests don't seem to go exactly against anything that you have formerly stood for. But you thought they were important enough to send a spy into them. You thought they were enough of a threat to team up with superheroes."

Firehawk's lips twitched up a little bit, "Oh come on. Who can really claim to have any clue what the Light's interests are? They're all over the place and our spy isn't high enough to get the full plan. No one but the main council has an idea about what their plans are. Supersonic started looking into them because of their recent increase in meta members. Apparently, they've gotten something like thirty new metas in the past two months. That's worrisome enough for us."

Dick nodded, the rest of the Team nodding with him. It was legitimate reasoning. It was also worrying information.

Whatever. The Team and the Circus would work together through it. The team-up was going to be complicated and there were going to be problems and misunderstandings, but they could do it. They were finally going to beat the Light.

 **Author's Note: Alrighty, currently Jinx and Lorraine are tied for first place as romantic interests for Wally! Cameron is right behind them. You've got five more chapters to vote and then I'm cutting it off. If it's a tie, then I'm going to a friend as the tie breaker. Three more reviews for another chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: So, just thought that I'd go ahead and let you guys know that I have zero clue where this is going. Like, I have a certain scene I want to happen, but beyond that I've got nothing. Mind, that's how I do all my stories, but still. That said, your guys' questions and theories on what is happening is** _ **awesome**_ **for my muse. I'm seeing this and I'm like** _ **possibilities**_ **. So thanks for that! Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – Haha, I'm glad you still think it's interesting after all the boring introspection and dialogue chapters. Thanks for the review and the vote!**

 **Guest – Man, I wish I could just write every single day so you guys could get chapters all the time but, alas, the real world prevails and I must instead do boring real life stuff. Thanks for the vote and the review!**

 **Scout – Thanks for taking the time to review and vote!**

 **HI – Yes, you absolutely may! Thanks for the wonderful vote and review!**

 **Saber – Thank you for taking the time to review and vote!**

 **Guest – Thanks for the vote and the review!**

 **Anett -** **Muchas gracias por tomarse el tiempo para revisar!**

 **Theawesomeflash – Yeah, it has certainly been a bit! Aw, thanks for that! Glad you still like my stuff! Thanks for the vote and the review!**

WWWWWW

Wally's fist, which had been previously on a fast track to Dinah's face, was grabbed tightly and twisted, sending him toppling to the floor. Anticipating the move, however, he'd started rolling immediately after hitting the ground, pulling his still captive fist – and the one holding it – behind him. Dinah was surprised by the move and ended up being pulled over, off her balance. She twisted as she fell, though, landing knees down straight on Wally's chest.

Coughing with shock (and pain, a lot of pain), Wally regretted his life decisions. He really should have seen that coming. Dinah accentuated her move with a flip off of him and an extra kick to his ribs that he barely dodged out of the way of. He rolled across the floor as far as he could, so he had a little space to stand up while Dinah went after him.

Sweat trickled down the sides of his head, tickling his ear for a moment. His eye twitched, but he let it go. That momentary distraction would not be worth the pummeling he'd get for not paying attention to his opponent. The two circled each other warily, watching the moves and step patterns of the others, analyzing their current fighting potential, cautiously waiting for the next movement. Wally, always impatient though he tried not to be, was the first one to move, striking out with a lunging kick that was easily blocked. He morphed into something else immediately afterwards, leaning his upper body to the side as he fell from the kick. His left leg came swinging up behind him as his hands reached for the floor. His foot made hard contact with Dinah's shoulder, startling both of them. Wally hadn't expected that to hit.

The connection of his hit distracted Wally to the point that he missed his landing, hand twisting painfully under him as he fell into a graceless somersault. He sprung back up again, but his hand was definitely injured in some way or another and basically useless at this point. Wrinkling his nose, Wally and Dinah started their circling again. It was Wally who struck first again, focusing on his strong hand and aiming a few viper-quick lashes at her torso. She was faster, blocking them and sending a volley of her own back at him. Cursing under his breath, Wally struggled into a faster paced battle, trying to find an edge. There wasn't any to find, though. He was fighting with one hand and she had _years_ of experience over him.

It wasn't long before she delivered a heel strike to his chest, sending him flying back and knocking the wind out of him all at once. Dinah slid over to him and lightly pressed two fingers against one of his pressure point, one of the ones that would incapacitate him. The threat was obvious. If this had been a real fight, she would have been able to push that little biological button and kill him when he wasn't able to fight back.

Smacking his head back against the ground, Wally groaned, "I yield! I yield."

Smiling, Dinah helped him up, fingers ghosting over his injured hand. Out of habit, he yanked it out of her grip and clutched it close to himself. Only the fact that she understood and would have probably done the same thing is what kept Dinah from being offended. She nodded towards the benches off to the sides of the rooms, "Get on out of the ring and go heal."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going." Wally started heading out of the field before he turned slightly and called back, "Good fight!"

Dinah called back, "You won't be thinking that when I give you your assessment of everything you did wrong!"

Wally rolled his eyes and sat cautiously down on the bench. The way they'd set up the training room in the Circus's main headquarters was putting a metahuman power blocker over the actual training ring. It could be turned on or off based on what they wanted to do. The rest of the training room allowed the metas to use their full powers. That meant that Wally didn't have his increased healing in the training ring, but he could step outside it and allow his healing to steadily fix whatever had been damaged with a fight with Dinah.

Cameron patted him on the back, cringing slightly when he realized it came back slightly damp, "You lasted pretty long today, man."

Wally frowned, "That's because Dinah's distracted. She's definitely not fighting up to her normal standards. That hit on her shoulder would have never landed on a normal day." He watched Dinah as she cracked her neck, toweling off her shoulders and upper chest area before reaching for a glass of water. She was taking a few minutes to cool down before starting her next fight.

Although it was good training for her to have to do continuous fights like this, it was hard on her. Since she was the hand-to-hand expert, she typically trained the rest of the group. They arranged it so it was easier on everyone. She had her harder fights first so the people who were weaker went against a weaker Dinah and were able to grow more without just being repeatedly pummeled. Wally was usually in the middle, typically after Kelvin and Cameron. Garfield and Jinx went after him. Wally and Lorraine would normally switch spots as to who went first. They were relatively equal in strength.

Cameron's voice broke him out of his reverie, "You've got that look on your face that says that you're analyzing our movements and picking out the best way to torture us by making us work on our weaknesses."

That startled a laugh out of Wally, "What? No, no. I'm just thinking about our usual routine. I'm worried about Dinah's distraction. I'm worried about what kind of living changes we'll have to get used to. We've only been doing this for a year. With a group as large as we have, all living together, that's not a lot of time. We've only just now started to really mesh the right way. We all have our problems and those problems were just made worse by the fact that we were surrounded by people we didn't know. I mean, you and I knew each other. Jinx and Lorraine recognized each other's faces because their beds were close in their barracks. That's it. Now? We're going to go live with an entirely new group. More people with more problems. And there's already tension there. Tension that's going to make the problems worse than they are. And when we do go back to doing our own thing, we'll have to relearn how to be just us again because we didn't really have enough of a foundation to go back to."

"Well, to most of that, all I can say is that we'll deal with it as it goes. We might not have been together long, but we've made this past year count and we'll all back each other up. We're family and that's going to mean something. As for Dinah's distraction… we're all distracted, Wally. This is a mess. It's going to get worse. We're worried about our spy." Cameron responded, putting a comforting hand on Wally's shoulder. Wally let it stay for a little longer than he would with most people, but ended up shrugging it off. Cameron obviously didn't let it bother him.

"I know, Cam. But that's you, not me. You're always, let's just cross that bridge when we get to it. I overthink things." Wally shook his head, "But you're right. I just need to let this go for the moment. I'm doing all I can right now which is getting everyone to train to get their minds off of things while we wait for the right time to move into the new place. I'm a little concerned with the fact that the Team is getting the majority of a day to set up and put whatever kind of tricks they want to in there, but I understand. They can't have us seeing how the zeta beams work and they want to check in with their mentors without having to crowd us with heroes on our first day. It just…" Wally shook his head again, "This is ridiculous. Everything's fine."

When he looked over, Cameron was watching him in amusement. Wally rolled his eyes and shoved at Cameron's shoulder. Cameron laughed and the two of them turned to watch the fight currently going on. Dinah was facing against Lorraine at the moment, the two already having worked up a sweat in the time that Wally and Cameron had been talking.

Out of habit, Wally analyzed their movements, tucking it into the back of his mind to talk about with Dinah. Despite the fact that Wally's fighting experience came almost exclusively from Dinah's tutelage, he was good at taking the mistakes that Dinah found and turning them into activities for the group to work on. In his mind, a problem that one member had was a problem that all of them had.

Lorraine was holding her own pretty well. She'd always been better at fighting out her problems, pushing everything into some kind of order in her mind so each punch and kick would highlight a new issue and solve it. Training was the best kind of relaxation technique for her. As Wally watched, Dinah seemed to be losing some of her tension, too. Each graceful high kick and powerful flip was a little tighter, a little more well controlled as she stopped letting the Team distract her thoughts and instead focused on the fight in front of her.

On the other side of the room, Kelvin and Garfield were trying to outdo each other in lifting weights. Garfield was turning into increasingly ridiculous animals as he tried to pick up more. Kelvin was just laughing at him. Wally rolled his eyes; as long as Garfield didn't turn into anything large enough to break a wall, it was fine by him. They had a different room for that kind of thing.

Cameron leaned back and put his head against the wall, "This is all boring stuff."

Wally raised an eyebrow, leaning back with him, "Oh yeah? And what would be the interesting stuff?"

"Girls," Cameron answered simply. Wally snorted, but Cameron continued on, relentless, "No, I'm serious! Did you see all those babes on the Team? Like, is being mega hot a requirement to join? I mean, I'd totally be able to join if that were the case, but…"

Wally muttered under his breath, "Pretty sure you're the opposite of mega hot."

Cameron put a wounded hand to his chest, "How could you say something like that to me? I'm hurt. Devastated. _Broken_ with _despair_."

Giving him his best wide-eyed look, Wally responded as apologetically as he could, "But Cam! That's not what I meant! I only meant to say that your ice powers were the opposite of mega hot. It was merely a comment on your core body temperature and not your outward appearance."

Cameron was pretending to wipe away a tear when Jinx's voice caused the two of them to glance up at her, "Honestly. Moments like this make me wonder if the Team has the right idea in leadership."

Opening his mouth, Cameron put his hand on his chest again, ready to deliver his 'wounded' spiel again. Jinx rolled her eyes and pointed a finger at him, pink energy floating around it threateningly. Use to Jinx's usually casual threats, Wally only kept half an eye on the situation next to him. They both knew that Wally did not tolerate people using their powers against each other in harmful ways. He was okay with a harmless prank here or there (or everywhere based on the sheer concentration of teenagers who hadn't been able to be kids for a very long time) and they could use their power for other things or for training, but never to intentionally hurt each other. That didn't mean that it hadn't happened here or there. As he'd alluded to, tempers ran high during the first bit of time that they'd lived together, and it was hard to dispel the flight or fight instinct that had ruled their lives for however long they'd been in the camps.

Jinx's voice pulled him back from his analysis of Dinah's improved mood, "I want to talk to Zatanna."

Wally gave her a confused look, "You'll get plenty of time to talk to her. We're going to be living together. From what Aqualad told me, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Zatanna all live at their base, so she'll be there all the time."

He realized that was the wrong thing to say when Jinx's face made a peculiar expression (he only barely recognized it as vulnerability and a flash of genuine _want_ ) before she made a dismissive hand wave and started to walk off. Wally half got up, calling out, "Jinx, wait!"

Cameron snorted from next to him, "Smooth, Wall-man. Real slick."

"I'd like to see you try," Wally grumbled, no real heat to his words as he got all the way up and followed Jinx over to the collection of boxes that she often used to test the finer points of her telekinesis, working boxes into other boxes and opening and closing them. He stopped just next to her and leaned up against a post, watching her pink light surround a box, moving it and messing with it, "Jinx, I'm sorry I misunderstood. Can you explain it to me?"

"Don't treat me like a little kid!" Jinx snapped, two spots of color darkening her cheeks.

"I'm not trying to," Wally explained calmly, "I'm talking like this because I don't know what's going on."

She fidgeted under his glance before sighing harshly, cheeks darkening further, "You know when we were explaining our powers to the Team? And I said that I knew magic, but not like Zatanna's. I can't do magic like hers. I _want to_ , though. There's so much more that someone could do with magic like hers. I know that I'm supposed to be the magic expert on this team or whatever because I have knowledge of the occult and a general ability that often uses the same kind of technique as magic, but I don't really have magic. I'm a metahuman. I have metahuman abilities. I just thought… maybe if we talked about it, we'd be able to do something to figure out if I can do magic."

Wally tilted his head to the side, "I'm sure you can do magic."

"Not much point in getting all excited about it or hoping I can do it. It'll only lead to disappointment. I'm just doing this to prove to myself that I can't learn it." Jinx mumbled, shoulders coming up defensively.

Lips twisting into a small, sad frown, Wally pointed out, "It's not exactly like that, though. I'm sure you can do magic. Remember how I told you guys that I got my powers when a meta's powers went berserk. He was controlling the weather. The weather wasn't a part of the kid, it's a natural phenomenon. Just like magic is a natural phenomenon. My guess is that you're tapping into the magic of the world when you use your abilities. Theoretically, training with Zatanna should allow you to focus that pull and give it shape – which is where the increase in power would come from."

Looking thoughtful, Jinx opened and closed four different sized boxes at the same time, "You know, for someone who doesn't believe in magic, a lot of your thoughts make a lot of sense."

"Magic doesn't exist." Wally said flatly.

Jinx rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, giving up on the boxes and turning to face him, settling into an old and worn argument, "You literally just told me that I can learn magic!"

"You can learn what you _believe to be_ magic." Wally agreed easily. As a teenage boy, it was a rule that he enjoyed working the girls of the team up. Jinx was the easiest to rile up, but she was also the most likely to cause property damage in the process, so it was a delicate game to frustrate her enough to be amusing, but not enough for people to start getting hurt.

Sighing out a gusty breath of air, Jinx stood firm, "If it's not magic, then what could it be? It's magic. There's literally nothing else it could be!"

"Science." Wally answered, continuing when she gave him an unimpressed glare, "This is just a scientific process. You're reacting to different electrical and chemical impulses in the earth. You're pulling on the kinetic and potential energy within each object and manipulating it. It's simple physics."

"You have seen me defy physics. _You_ have defied physics with your powers!" Jinx threw back, hands waving in the air.

"I have entered into an extension of physics that has not yet been accurately explained by scientists. There is nothing I do that is unnatural or against Mother Nature's rules." Wally stated easily before tacking on, "And that goes the same for you. You aren't bending nature's rules or doing something that some deity or something grants you the ability to do based on a ritual you did to summon it. You're just clicking in with the impulses of the earth. That's it."

"And why can't that be called magic?" Jinx asked.

Wally scoffed incredulously, "What? It's already called science, that's why!"

"Working with the earth _is_ part of _magic_ , but there's also the moments where we go against the earth's natural pulls and do our own thing. Because _magic_." Jinx explained, expression lighting up just the tiniest amount as she tried to explain the thing she loved.

Wally didn't really think he would ever believe in magic. Maybe it was the part of him that liked to be in charge – the idea that magic could act against the very fabric of the earth was unnerving because there would be no way to counteract it, no way to discover its workings and take control. Maybe it was the part of him that was disillusioned with childhood things – there was no deity, no magic, no little fairy that came and saved him when he needed it. Maybe it was the scientist in him – nothing is not science, there are just some things that the scientists haven't quite gotten around to explaining yet. No matter what part of him – or a mix of those three – was responsible for his disbelief in magic, he was relatively certain that it wouldn't be going away.

Dinah's voice washed over the room, "If Jinx isn't in this ring in less than a minute, I'm going out of here and getting her _myself_."

"Oh man," Wally said, letting out a small, momentary smile, "You've made the Canary angry. Better get up there before we all get hurt." Jinx rolled her eyes at him, but started towards the middle of the room where Dinah was leaning against a side of the training ring. After a moment's pause, Wally called out to Jinx's retreating form, "Hey, Jinx. I'll talk to Aqualad, and maybe Zatanna too. I'll see what I can arrange. Give me a few days, though, to get everyone settled in, okay? And… thanks for coming to me with this." She didn't respond or even turn to acknowledge his response, but she was still lightly blushing, and her moves were lighter, brighter, when she started sparring with Dinah.

Exhausted because dealing with emotions was harder than it should be, Wally went back over to where Cameron was still sitting, idly watching the fight in front of him. Wally sat back down next to him, watching Dinah's powerful strikes and Jinx's delicate evasions.

Cameron commented idly, "I'm glad they sat us next to each other on that Collection Agency bus."

Slightly worried by the words and the easy tone he'd said them in, Wally frowned, "Yeah, me too… You haven't brought that up in years."

"Yeah, well. I figured I should mention it again. You're my best friend." Cameron said, not looking at Wally, but voice fierce. After a second, he continued, obviously feeling Wally's confusion, "You said it yourself. We're about to do something new. Everything is going to change. Except not really. Not everything is going to change. No matter who walks into our lives and no matter who walks out, it's always going to be you and me. We'll always be those two eight-year-old kids who were sat next to each other on the bus. I'll always be the one who talks to you and tries to help you any way I can, and you'll always be the one who'll do something stupid to protect me. That won't ever change, okay?"

Expression serious (it almost always was, but Wally knew that Cameron would see the extra layer of seriousness, the _feeling_ that he was trying to put into his expression), Wally nodded, "I know it won't. If there's one thing in this world I believe in, it's the two of us."

Cameron sagged a little with relief. Trying to ease the tension the same way Cameron always had for him, Wally jostled his friend's shoulder and said, "No more touchy-feely conversations today. I have a strict, once a day conversation. Lucky for you, I made an exception and allowed yours, but that's two touchy-feely conversations not only in one day, but in a half-hour time period. No more. Pretty sure I won't be able to take it."

Cameron snorted, "You're such a dork."

"Loser." Wally responded, actually going so far as to stick his tongue out.

Cameron gaped at him incredulously, " _I'm_ the loser? _You're_ the one who just stuck his tongue out at me!"

Wally gave a small laugh, something that normally only happened around Cameron. He gave Cameron a small smile before glancing back at the training ring. Jinx and Dinah's fight had just worn down and they were both panting with the exertion of the day. Kelvin called from the other side of the room, "What's next fearless leader?"

Expression smoothing out and a warm spot settling into his chest, just over his heart, Wally called back, "Let's head over to the group training room. We'll do one last group exercise and then we'll start getting our stuff together. Let's go!"

 **Author's Note: Next chapter will be a little bit about what the Team is doing during this little time period. Let me know if things are getting too boring for you. That's what I stress about the most. I'm just concerned that you guys are going to think that there isn't enough action. Anyways, for the voting. You are allowed to vote once per chapter. There will be four chapters after this for you to vote in. Right now, we're looking at Cameron in first place, Jinx in second, Lorraine in third, and Zatanna slowly working her way up there too. Thanks for reading and I'm going to ask for four reviews for another chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: You guys are the best! Over 100 reviews in 5 chapters! You blew my mind! Thank you so much for dedicating your time to this story! Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – The top hats are pretty spectacular. I will definitely agree with you there. Thanks for the review and the vote!**

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 **Guest – Absolutely! Thanks for the vote and the review!**

 **HI – Aw, thanks! I'm always worried about being too boring. It's, like, a constant concern in all of my stories. Thanks for the review!**

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 **Bubbles – Haha, glad you thought the interaction was cute. I had a lot of fun writing it even though it was kind of hard for me :P We will absolutely get the backstory on the Circus and on each of the members. Thanks for the wonderful review and the vote!**

 **Guest – You'll definitely get a reaction to that eventually. So, I haven't decided if the two of them will be able to find the benefactors. I mean, it's the Dynamic Duo, so they should be able to get at least some of them, but at the same time, these benefactors are doing a lot to be anonymous. Iris is always a bamf and I will try to include that in here. Thanks for the vote and the review!**

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 **CH – Aw, I'm glad that you like it so far! It's nice that other people think this premise is as interesting as I do! Thanks for the review and the vote and I hope you have a wonderful morning too!**

 **Justicebrother – Yeah, they were really cute in Teen Titans! Thanks for the vote and the amazing review!**

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 **– Feel free to guess who the spy is! I know I give, like, zero hints, but feel free! Thanks for the vote and the review!**

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DDDDDD

Dick eyed their new headquarters with interest. During the fight against the Injustice League, he had catalogued the location's escape routes and threatening features, but he hadn't really gotten a good feel for the place, or a real understanding of it's sheer size. The building was _massive_ without Poison Ivy's giant plan inside of it.

The building had been sectioned off into smaller rooms. There was more transparency in this place than there was in the Cave. The Cave was full of hard rock walls and twists and turns throughout the entire mountain wherever it was easiest to tunnel through the unyielding rock. This was a collection of pale walls interspersed with large spans of clear window. There was a darker corner in the back where the living quarters were all boxed in together, no bright, airy windows opening the area up. There was a clear divide between where the metahumans' rooms were and where the Team's rooms were, separated by a few empty rooms that were being reserved on the off chance that there were more Circus members or if Justice League members needed to stay behind.

The layout was completely different from the Cave, too, probably to prevent a person from looking at this layout and being able to navigate the Cave was well. It meant that the Team was going to get lost in there as often as the Circus members, but that was okay. It was worth it to keep it protected.

There was a sublevel, too. A lot of the more sensitive rooms were in the basement, which had the ability to be cut off from the rest of the building in case someone got in. There was the control room and a conference room down there. A collection of computers was in one room and a huge monitor made for direct contact with the League filled up another room. It certainly wasn't the home that the Cave was, but it wasn't bad either. It would be good enough for however long they needed to stay here.

Hopefully, it wasn't long. Dick knew that a group like the Light wasn't going to be easy to take down. Even when they manage to take down the core group (made of heavy hitters that were going to be nearly impossible to take down when they were working together), they would still have to dismantle the lower regions of the organization, find all of their locations, capture and detain the lackeys. Depending on how organized the rest of the organization is, it could take months to capture the lower levels. Hopefully (although doubtful based on the leadership), there would be a lack of organization further down and the Team and Circus could get this wrapped up quickly.

Glancing up at the sound of his alter ego's name being called, Dick saw that the Justice League were arriving through the zeta beams at that moment.

The two teams faced each other, children on one side and adults on the other. Superman spoke first, stopped near the back of the group, resolutely faced away from Conner, "This will be your new headquarters. It has all the same abilities of your last headquarters and almost as much security. You will need to be more cautious about this location and the knowledge of it's location as this _is_ less secure. We were not able to outfit it as completely as Mount Justice." His voice and diction were terser than usual, stiffness in his expression and muscles.

It made the rest of the people in the room just as tense, glances falling between Conner and Superman. Conner's shoulders were tensed up, gaze hard on the floor as he waited for Superman to leave. It was painful watching the hope that would light up Conner's face whenever Superman entered the room or was even mentioned. It was even more painful watching the hope slide away when Superman ignored him and turned away from his clone.

Batman picked up the speech, "Keep us informed about the actions of the Circus. As it stands now, they are to be considered allies, but they are _not_ to be trusted. The primary objective is to dismantle the Light and stop their plan. The secondary objective is to learn more about the Circus. They are an unknown. In the past twenty-four hours, you have learned more about the Circus than most have learned in the year that they have been active. The Circus is dangerous and should be treated as such. You are our covert ops team and you should act like it. As it stands now, the Circus is considered a terrorist organization by the government. It would be better for everyone if knowledge of your alliance with them stayed as secret as the majority of your actions. Am I understood?"

The Team nodded as one. Dick fidgeted slightly, thinking about his mentor's words. It disturbed him that they knew so little about the Circus. With Batman's interest in the group and their generally explosive battles, it shouldn't be so difficult to find out more about them. How was it that they stayed so hidden, so unknown when they had a teenager for a leader? For a second in command? Dick had already started his search into the possible identities of the benefactors that were working with the Circus, but he hadn't been able to really get into the search with just his hand held.

How could these benefactors be hiding so well? Dick knew that there had been missions that ended up with the Circus taking people – presumably metahumans – but there was no sign of those people. They never turned back up, but they weren't among the Circus members. Where did those people go? How does the Circus hide them? There were too many questions and Dick wasn't sure that any of them were going to be answered. They knew now that there were some questions that the Circus was willing to refuse to answer so there was a chance that a lot of the things that Dick wanted to know would follow the same pattern.

Wonder Woman spoke next, "For the next week, while you get settled into your new headquarters and the Circus joins you, Red Tornado will be the only one here. He will work to be as unobtrusive as possible, but he will be here. I will come back to continue with our training schedule after that one week. I expect you to keep up the training as much as you can in the time that I will be gone. If it becomes relevant, please try to get me a training plan from the Circus. In order to aid in the alliance of this group and your effectiveness on the field, it would be helpful for you to train together. I do not want you training together before I come back, though."

M'gann gave a little frown, "Would it not be better for us to train together before you were here? They seem skittish about the idea of adult heroes with us."

Wonder Woman bit the inside of her lip, thinking about the problem. Roy shrugged from where he was casually draped against the wall, "I'm an adult hero and they're used to me. I can watch them while they train together."

"Yeah, adult. Right." Green Arrow muttered from his spot, arms crossed defensively. The two glared at each other while Artemis rolled her eyes from the side. Dick personally agreed with her. The two male archers were always at each other's throat and no one was willing to step between them and help them calm down. It meant that their relationship (that was actually genuine; they really did love each other like father and son) was often volatile and filled with misunderstandings and charged air.

Roy sneered at him but refrained from saying anything. Thankfully.

Martian Manhunter broke the silence that had fallen over them, "You will receive missions as usual. It will be in your purview whether you bring members from the Circus with you or not. It would be useful to bring them with you on missions other than against the Light so as to train yourself to fight together, however, you will be doing covert operations for us and it might not be prudent to show them all that you discover on those missions. They will likely not allow you on their own missions."

The Team nodded again. Dick was getting bored. They _knew_ this stuff. They didn't need it rehashed for them like they were children. A sharp glance from Batman told Dick that Bruce knew what he was thinking and did not approve. Dick frowned at him, but didn't say anything, straightening out and stilling.

Green Lantern was the last one to speak, "With the lack of security and the increase in outside threat from having a vigilante team living with you, we decided that you need another 'den mother' of sorts and I picked the short straw. I won't get in your way, but I'll be around as often as I can be in the time I've got."

Artemis's jaw clenched, but it was Zatanna who burst out, "We don't need another den mother! We can handle ourselves."

Something softened in Green Lantern's expression and his response was less sarcastic than it would have been on another day, " _I_ know that. Still, a little help can never hurt. I'm not trying to step on toes, I'm trying to help keep you safe."

Zatanna grit her teeth together but didn't say anything. Testing the mental waters, Dick realized that there was still a connection between them, opening their minds for communication. He sent out, _GL's great, Zatanna. He'll be totally chill. Besides, the Guardians and various planets in the sector will keep him busy a lot of the time._

 _That doesn't mean I like it_ , Zatanna shot back, but the tension in her jaw did ease a little bit. The rest of the Team eased with her.

It wasn't easy being controlled like this when they knew they could do better. The Justice League had a lot more experience than them and it had a lot more power and resources, but that didn't have to mean anything. There was no reason that the Team couldn't be a covert ops team that operated with the League's resources by themselves. If the Team was given the same information as the League, there was no way that they wouldn't be able to figure out which missions needed to occur when. Sure, the League could be understandably concerned at first and make it so the Team had to run their missions by a League member before they attempted it, but that wouldn't have to last long. The League would only have to check their work for a little bit before they realized that the Team could handle it and they could let go of the reins.

That was one of the things that Bruce and Dick had argued about. Dick didn't understand why the League couldn't see how _easy_ it would be to arrange something that would give the Team control while still maintaining that they were as safe as they could be while fighting the types of creeps they regularly fought. It was so maddeningly simple, and they _just didn't see it_.

The types of excuses that the older heroes had given him were slightly understandable, but still frustrating. They had told them that it was harder to keep the Team unknown when they operated on their own, but the Circus themselves disproved that theory! They were completely unknown and completely hidden and they didn't even trade exclusively in covert operations! Why couldn't the Team be like that? Especially since they were going to have an alliance with the Circus and could get information on how they stay hidden. It would be _so easy_. Dick doubted it was ever going to happen. He wondered bitterly what it would take for the League to stop treating them like little kids who don't have a clue.

Dick blinked as the Leaguers bade their farewell and the rest of the Team spread out in groups of two or three to explore their new home. Dick was shepherded away with Roy and Kaldur. He realized from his vague mental map that they were leading him to the sublevel, probably towards the computer room.

He was pushed into one of the chairs and Kaldur and Roy settled on either side of him, sitting there expectantly. Rolling his eyes, Dick pulled the computer keypad towards him. He would go ahead and go more in depth on his research into potential benefactors while they were talking at him. He would get _something_ productive out of this.

Kaldur was the first to speak, "I believe I like Supersonic."

"Black Canary isn't half bad either. Same with Icicle." Roy mused.

Dick frowned as he started typing. He needed to isolate people who make large amounts of money and then people who _spend_ a lot of money. That could involve partying, drugs, drink, material spending, charity spending, investors. Dick had zero clue how the Circus would _get_ their money. They could masquerade as a drug dealer or a party business or a charity or some other type of business that would need a lot of investments. He didn't know how many investors there were, nor how much money the Circus even _used_ which made this search almost impossible.

"I didn't really get as much of a feel for the other members. They were a lot quieter. I don't think Changeling even spoke at all other than to tell us his powers. Same with Jinx. I was surprised when Black Canary agreed with me, though. I wasn't expecting any of them to actually say they agreed with us. For all that they were accommodating and listened to us, nothing we said was really… our idea, was it? I mean, the closest we got to suggesting something they hadn't planned for was telling them that the Leaguers were going to be here a lot. Especially now that we've got Hal for a babysitter. Who even thought it would be a good idea to get him as a babysitter?" Roy ranted,

"As Dick has said, Hal will often be busy with his Green Lantern duties. He is an adept superhero and a formidable opponent. There is much we can learn from him." Kaldur responded evenly.

Roy grumbled, "The Circus won't like it. We only mentioned Batman, Red Tornado, and Wonder Woman. All of a sudden we're bringing in another superhero? They really won't like that."

"Can they be faulted? They have been hunted by the superheroes. They are called enemies of the law. The more superheroes that surround them, the warier they will be." Kaldur threw back.

"Exactly! Another reason why giving us _another_ babysitter is stupid!" Roy threw his hands into the air in frustration.

Dick had narrowed the list down to… a lot. There were over 2,200 billionaires in the world. For all he knew, the Circus could have backing from other nations. Not every country was as strict about metahuman containment and rehabilitation, even though all countries had laws against them. Therefore, practically every royal family member with a fortune had to be considered. They all spent a lot and there were always rumors that various countries had covered up metahuman royalty in the past. The only royal that Dick could confidently cross off the list was Queen Bee. As a member of the Light, there was no way that she would be a supporting figure in the Circus. Besides, her entire country would crumble if it were to get out that she supported metahumans. Bialya had one of the strictest metahuman policies in the world. Queen Bee's brainwashing abilities and tight control over her political group would be dismantled and proven to be the work of her metahuman abilities and less-than-ethical actions.

"That is not what we came here to discuss." Kaldur stated firmly, "We decided that we were going to discuss the Circus and their members. We need to be prepared for when they come here later this afternoon."

Roy frowned, "I'm honestly not sure what I was expecting when we went out there to meet them. I already knew that if they were reaching out to us for help, then they weren't _exactly_ like we imagined they'd be. I mean, no metahuman worth their salt would ever ask us for help based on what everyone thinks about them. Are they the exceptions? Are they the rule and we've only been meeting the exceptions? How does this work?"

Kaldur tilted his head to the side, "I do not believe that I have ever asked you what your opinion of metahumans is."

Roy scratched at his chin, "You know, not a lot of people have real defined opinions on metas. I mean, at first? It was such a big deal that _everyone_ had opinions, but that was eight years ago when metas first started really coming out of the woodworks, or seven years ago when it became obvious that _kids_ could become metas, or six years ago when America built the first meta camp. Now? What does anyone care? They're packed away in their little camps. To get into school and stay in school, you have to take yearly meta-gene detecting tests. Some high-end work places will require tests too, but not a lot because it's expensive for them. The metas that _could_ be threats are taken care of by other metas. At this point, it's kind of a disregarded subject. Obviously, there are people that are still very opinionated either way, but most people just don't really care as long as it doesn't affect them. As for me? I'd say I'm one of them. I mean, I'm closer towards the 'dislike' side. I mean, dislike isn't the word I'm looking for. Metahumans are dangerous. They have powers that are plopped on them at completely random times. There is no chance for them to learn how to work their powers or to get used the responsibility of their powers. It's an impossible situation to stick someone. Could you imagine getting crazy powers out of the blue one day? And then just… only using it for good? It would be hard to do. And even if they decided that they were never going to use their powers to hurt anyone, it's not like they can really train it. No one else has these powers, so who's going to train them? They end up in a stressful situation and, next thing they know, their powers are going berserk and people are dead. In my opinion, I think the camps are doing the right thing by trying to find an antidote and keeping the metas away for the time being. At the same time, I think the _Circus_ is doing the right thing by stopping the metas that slip through the cracks."

Dick hummed lightly to himself. That was something to cross off the list. About four years ago found every elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and military (along with a few other jobs) testing regularly for the meta-gene. Any of the people on his list who were in one of those places in that time frame were removed. At least, the ones in the countries that had instituted that practice, which was mainly the superpowers of the world. In the end, that only crossed off a couple hundred. That was still almost two thousand potential candidates. Dick resisted the urge to snicker when he saw names like Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen.

Others were relatively easy to cross off the list, too. Names like Ra's al Ghul, Lex Luthor, and Vandal Savage were all immediately removed due to their position on the Light. Dick couldn't discount other supervillains because he honestly wasn't sure if the supervillain status would bother the Circus or not. People like Simon Stagg and Oswald Cobblepot stayed on the list. People who had strong connections to anti-metahuman forces were crossed off, too. Some weren't entrenched deeply enough into metahuman smear campaigns to stop considering the idea that they might be faking it. Others, like Amanda Waller and Maxwell Lord were easy to discount.

"How about you?" Roy asked.

Kaldur frowned lightly, thinking, "I find myself firmly neutral about the topic. Being someone who is considered strange and dangerous due to my abilities, I understand the hurt that comes from being judged only by what you were created to be. However, being a superhero, I cannot disregard the actions of metahumans. Almost every known metahuman caused catastrophic amounts of damage when their powers activated. Of course, these metahumans are likely known _because_ their powers were so catastrophic, but the point still remains. As you said, these people are not prepared to bear the load of this responsibility. Nor should they have to. It is not their fault, but they cannot be allowed to harm others."

"Yeah, I get that." Roy said.

They lapsed into silence for a moment before Kaldur asked, brows furrowed, "Why does Artemis hate the metahumans so much?"

Roy tipped his head back, "How should I know why that _traitor_ does anything?" Kaldur gave him a _look_ and Roy capitulated with a sigh, "Look, I honestly don't know. If I had to _guess_ , I'd say that it's not that she hates them, but that she distrusts them. From what I gather by her behavior, she acts like a complete jerk towards people she doesn't trust. If anything in a person makes her doubt them at all, then they're on her black list and they're getting all her worst. I have to assume that's her way of protecting herself and others? Something to the effect of, it won't hurt as much if they betray her. Maybe something along the lines of her being prepared for it if they betray her. It might even be some sort of gauntlet. If they can take that kind of behavior from her, then they must be good? Some whacked mix of the three? I really don't know." Kaldur tipped his head to Roy, agreeing with his points.

Dick wasn't sure what to eliminate next. He'd already narrowed it down to so many specifications, but there were still over a thousand possible candidates. The most frustrating thing about this entire exercise was that it could be entirely fruitless. There's the chance that Artemis was right, and the Circus was stealing all of this money. There was no guarantee that they actually _had_ benefactors. And there was no guarantee that they didn't.

The most difficult part of this entire puzzle was the knowledge that he didn't know how much money the Circus needed. Without that information, it was like putting together a complex puzzle with thousands of pieces and a tricky picture without having an image to compare the puzzle pieces to. In other words: nearly impossible.

"Dick? _Dick_? Are you even listening to us?" Roy snapped, actually snapping his fingers in front of Dick's face.

Groaning, Dick pushed back the keyboard and glared through his mask at his friends, "I was _trying_ to do what I came here to do! And it's useless! I've got a list of about a thousand potentials! And no way of crossing any more out. I need to know more about how the Circus operates to even _attempt_ to find out more about who might be a benefactor. There's even the chance that they might not _know_ they're a benefactor and are instead just donating to a dummy corporation. I have no clue!"

Roy gave him a droll stare, "So… you weren't listening to a word we said."

"I always _listen_ , I just don't always… _process_. I even used something you said to cross stuff off my list! But if it wasn't pertinent to what I was doing – _what I came down here to do_ – then I wasn't… _processing_." Dick responded, crossing his arms petulantly.

Roy rolled his eyes, throwing his head back and sighing. Kaldur ducked his head to hide a smile before saying, "We were merely wondering what your opinion on metahumans was."

Dick frowned, "Their main danger is that they act unregulated. When a hero acts, they do so with the intention of upholding the law. When the metas act, they do so with the intention of doing something for their own people. There have been some that have literally said that our _human_ law doesn't apply to them. And I know that a lot of them think that way. That's certainly the way the Circus acts. They break laws all the time! They need to act within their proper bounds or not have powers at all. That's what I think. I also think that they get a bad rep. The more dangerous a meta is, the more people will hear about it. The harmless ones or the less destructive, more helpful ones won't get talked about because it's not as sensational. Because of that, all people ever hear are the bad things bad metas are doing. Until their powers can be regulated, dismantled, or properly trained, metas should not be allowed out to interact with humans."

Both of his friends nodded, apparently satisfied with his answer.

After a moment, Dick whispered, "Everything's going to change, isn't it?"

"Not us." Roy answered confidently, "We've been friends for a long time and that's not going to change. Maybe everything else will, but never us."

"How can you know?" Kaldur asked, eyes big and sad and worried in his face. A lot of the time, Kaldur acted as the oldest among them, matured beyond their years and wisdom. Sometimes, however, there were moments like this where they looked up to Roy, as their oldest friend. Sometimes there were moments when all of them acted their age and were scared and wanted someone to assure them. With the kind of life they lived, moments like those were few and far between due to necessity, but they were powerful when they occurred.

Roy smiled at them and shook his head ruefully, "How can I not know? It's us. What could possibly break us apart?"

 **Author's Note: Okay, another slow chapter, but this one is vitally important. To me, at least. The format and discussions of this chapter helped me decide a lot of major things, so I feel a little bit better about where I'm leading this story. Alrighty, as it stands, you have three more chapters to vote. The race is Jinx in first, Cameron in second, and Lorraine in third. I'm going to ask for four more reviews for another chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Wow, this has been a long week. Like, not a bad one, but it just feels like it's been forever since I last wrote for you guys. Weird. Anywho, read, review, and enjoy!**

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WWWWWW

For all that Wally loved running with every fiber of his being, there were moments like this where he was a little bitter about his ability.

By necessity, Wally was the last one to really arrive at their new home. He'd brought Garfield and Dinah over at the same time, dropping them off together so no one had to wait with the heroes alone. Kelvin had been next just because he was such a pain to carry around and Wally wanted to get him over with. Kelvin thought it was hilarious. Cameron had gone next after whining Wally into letting him go after Kelvin instead of leaving him for last like usual. Jinx and Lorraine – both of them being rather slim – were easy to carry at the same time. Lorraine, being slightly larger than Jinx, climbed on Wally's back and held on while Jinx was carried bridal style. After that, Wally had had to make several trips between his main headquarters and the new headquarters to bring all the luggage.

By the end, he was starting to feel tired, a slight burn starting in his lungs and his thighs. The Team and the Circus were mingled together for once, instead of being clumped into their own groups. Both teams were smirking at him as he took in a rugged breath of air. The way they were intermingled, making them seem like one force, was the only reason Wally felt comfortable enough to snap, "What?"

He regretted it immediately; he'd wanted to portray some sort of a cool, calm, collected nature. He didn't want them to underestimate any member of his team and that meant keeping control around them, showing nothing but a leader. Other than Artemis's scowl deepening, no one commented on his slip in control. He wasn't sure if they even noticed. There probably wasn't all that much of a reason for them to notice. Red Arrow's smirk deepened, "Out of shape much?"

Cameron snorted, "The day fearless leader gets out of shape is the day I celebrate a life that's finally worth living without all of his merciless training exercises." Wally glared with a particular vindictive fondness that seemed to be just for Cameron and somehow recognizable even through shaded goggles. Cameron smirked at him. Wally wanted to throw something at him.

Miss Martian states sympathetically, "I am sure it is very difficult to carry all of his team members and their gears here. We do not even know how far he needed to run." Finally, someone who appreciates him a little bit.

Wally made to milk the most out of the green teenager's sympathies, but Harold completely ruined it by cocking his head to the side and asking, "Do you not do the same thing with your bioship?"

Attention of the Team and the Circus officially diverted to the science behind the mind link between Miss Martian and her ship, Wally slumped. So much for some far overdue sympathy. Honestly, life just wasn't fair to him. Still, it did give him a moment to get his bearings back. As much as he was used to running around and carrying his team members as a form of transport, he didn't usually have to run as far as he did. He also didn't usually need to carry luggage too. He was pretty sure that Jinx packed extra just to screw with him, too. Garfield, Wally believed honestly just packing a lot of stuff. Personally, Wally believed that a lot of Gar's animal instincts transferred over to his human form, including the need to nest which Wally attributed Garfield's almost obsessive collection of weird trash. Whatever. One man's trash was another man's treasure or something like that.

Jinx, however? Definitely doing it just to be rude.

Kelvin's possessions always made him seem like a sad, old bachelor who just wants to find a nice girl. Which basically translated to: he had practically nothing of substance to move into a new home. Dinah had a weird obsession with growing plants and fixing up old bikes, so that made up the majority of her possessions. Not a lot of those were transferrable (Wally and Harold had worked together to set up a system to water and take care of the plants for times like this where they weren't able to be in HQ for long periods of time), although Wally knew that there would be plants mysteriously coming out of nowhere to populate her new room that Wally _would_ have to cart back to HQ when the time came. In the end, Dinah mainly just had a lot of clothes and a lot of makeup for someone that didn't actually switch outfits often nor wear makeup often. Wally didn't bother questioning it.

Lorraine's stuff was simple and practical, but bulky. She was a little _too_ practical sometimes. He was pretty sure that he'd seen her pack an entire heavy duty first aid kit into one of her suitcases. He really wouldn't have been surprised.

Cameron and Wally, however, always traveled light. In their eyes, they didn't need a lot to live off of. That didn't mean that they had no attachment to the material world or whatever. It was almost the opposite for Wally, actually. His collection of souvenirs from missions and different countries he'd gone to would attest to that. Still, he didn't need to bring them with him. They were displayed proudly in the place he'd like to think of as home. That was all he needed.

Wally blinked when he heard his codename being called. Looking up from where he'd leaned against the luggage, he saw that Aqualad was standing in front of him, polite expression seemingly plastered onto his face. Maybe that saying about how keeping your face in one expression for too long would freeze your face like that forever had some merit to it after all.

Glancing around carefully, Wally ascertained that the rest of his team were harmlessly talking with the Team. Turning his attention back to his current co-leader, Wally nodded to him, "Aqualad."

Aqualad gazed at him with a frank expression, "We find ourselves with quite the task ahead of us. It will not be easy to combine our teams. There will be many difficulties waiting for us in the future."

"From what I know of my own team and what I've seen of your own, I think I can say that we both kind of excel in dealing with difficulties." Wally responded, the same amount of frankness in his voice. He actually liked Aqualad quite a bit.

Something approaching a smile touched the corners of Aqualad's lips as he inclined his head to Wally, "That is true. And yet, there will be many difficulties of our own making. There are those on our team who are hesitant to rely on your kind for any type of assistance. The Light would cause tension among even the strongest and most bonded groups. They already cause tension among my own team with rumors and hints towards a spy in our ranks."

Trying to prevent his gaze from becoming sharp and knowing that he'd failed, Wally spoke cautiously, "Interesting of you to reveal so much about a potential spy." He hesitated for the briefest of seconds before pushing, "Do you believe that there is a spy?"

Aqualad sent Wally a considering look of his own. Wally had the sudden, depressing realization that there was a good chance that Aqualad was a whole lot better at subtle manipulation and intensive political maneuvering than Wally would ever be. Aqualad gave that almost smile again, something sharper and slightly approving in it, "I believe in my team."

That honestly startled a quiet, single breath of laughter from Wally. His lips curved up a little bit at the corners in a quasi-smirk and he raised an eyebrow, "I think that was possibly the best answer I could have gotten there."

There was a softer look in Aqualad's eyes as he kept that same smile, "I have come to realize through this interaction that we will work well together."

Still slightly amused under it all, Wally's smirk faded, but his sincerity didn't, "I have come to realize through this interaction that you are actually terrifying." There was _definitely_ something _really_ sharp in Aqualad's returning smile. Wally got the sudden feeling that Aqualad was born with this evil streak in him, a terrifying master piece that would have made an _awesome_ supervillain. He wasn't sure if he was sad that it had been trained out of him (Aqualad might have been the first villain to actually take over the world and that would have been so amusing to watch) or glad (see reason for being sad).

Tilting his head towards their waiting teams – or, rather, _team_ now, - Aqualad said, "Shall we?"

Wally nodded and the two walked towards their team.

This seemed to be impeccable timing because both Robin and Cameron spoke at the same time, "We have a mission."

Both teens gave each other suspicious looks before Cameron waved a hand, "You first."

The whites of Robin's mask narrowed (and _how_ did that work?), but he didn't comment on it, instead saying, "We've got a mission. Batman sent it to me through my communicator. There's a major shipment of the Venom drug coming into America through New Orleans, which luckily isn't that far away" Wally resisted the urge to sneer. Batman sent it to them? They can't even pick their own missions? He resisted, though. He knew that it wasn't their fault, and this was likely as much as they had been able to push. It was disappointing, though, and Wally found himself irrationally upset about placing his trust in the Team. How could he truly trust them if they couldn't even run their own team? But that wasn't fair to anyone and he couldn't change it now. The League wouldn't have worked with a bunch of teenagers either. This was their only chance.

Robin paused and sent a nod to Cameron, who then spoke, "We've got a fight too. The Light is recruiting. They're going to do a test run, ambush a group of metas who were trying to join up. If the metas can at least hold their ground, then they'll be allowed to join up."

Wally scowled darkly, "Don't they have enough metas? Don't they have enough _people_? What are they planning that requires this many underlings? The more people they add, the more obvious they're going to get."

Red Arrow sent Wally a considering look, but didn't say anything before Aqualad was speaking, "It might be prudent to split each of our teams into two. Each of us can then send members on both missions. It would allow us to practice fighting together in the interim. I would lead the team in New Orleans and you would lead the team where the metahuman fight is."

Considering the proposition at lightning speed, Wally nodded, "Works for me. Let me run our things outside while you split your team and I'll try to split my team to compliment yours. Sound good?" He barely waited for Aqualad to nod before he raced off, luggage dragging behind him. This was going to suck. He just finished lugging people around and now he got to go drag more people around. This time strangers, too. It was always awkward for him to carry people for the first time. There was generally puking, and angry mumblings involved. Fantastic. Maybe, if he was lucky, they had another bioship around there somewhere. Maybe the bioship could split into two bioships. There had to be someone else who could drive the ship. It wouldn't make sense to have only one person able to use the transportation (Wally firmly ignored the voice in his head that told him that was what he did). They had to have something else to transport the Team when they split up, right?

When he returned, the Team was split into two vaguely uncomfortable groups. Neither group looked exactly thrilled to be running off with metas into a fight without even practicing with them before. Wally couldn't say he was all too thrilled either, but he also knew better than anyone that bonding over battle could be quite effective.

Aqualad's group contained Artemis, Superboy, and Rocket. The other group (Wally's group, technically) had Robin, Red Arrow, Zatanna, and Miss Martian. It was nice of Aqualad to put the most openly hostile team member in the group that would _not_ be dealing with metas.

Now, how could Wally split up his own team to match that. Both of the teams so far had fliers. Aqualad's group was a little muscle heavy, so Kelvin could come with Wally. Wally's group had a lot of the long range attackers, so Wally put Jinx and Lorraine with Aqualad. Aqualad's team would probably need a hacker, so Harold went with them. Wally would take Dinah and Garfield. He'd leave Cameron with the other group. Typically, Wally tried to keep Cameron on his own team because they worked so well together, but he knew that it was better to put the leader and the second-in-command in different groups so the chain of command could remain intact if someone took out an entire team.

Decisions made, Wally started motioning people towards whichever team he wanted them in. In the end, Aqualad was leading Artemis, Superboy, Rocket, Jinx, Lorraine, Harold, and Cameron. Wally was leading Robin, Red Arrow, Zatanna, Miss Martian (he wondered if she would change her name to Mrs. Martian if she got married. He promptly ignored the thought because it was useless and stupid), Kelvin, Dinah, and Garfield. There, the groups were split evenly and Wally thought that there was a pretty even distribution of talents in each group. Neither one should be going into this completely unprepared.

Aqualad nodded towards him and made to leave. It was Harold who noticed the problem, "How are we going to get to the places we need to go? Miss Martian is with Supersonic, who'll run them where they need to go, so she won't be able to pilot you guys around."

Miss Martian smiled easily, not concerned, "The bioship can be altered for manual flight as well. Robin's the best at flying it, but Artemis and Aqualad are really good as well. We're working on teaching the rest of them how to fly it. But either Artemis or Aqualad will work for this mission."

Wally sighed out a breath of relief. That was good. That could have gotten really complicated otherwise. Finally, Aqualad and Wally nodded towards each other again and Aqualad actually left, his team trailing along behind him. Wally could see the nerves in each of his team member's shoulders. It hurt him to see them so anxious, so nervous, but there was little he could do. At this point, he'd take what he could get. This was a lot friendlier than they had been prepared for when they'd prepped for the initial meeting. The Team held a lot of pleasant surprises and Wally was content to just be thankful for that.

Turning back to face his own team, Wally was almost nailed in the head with something. Only reflexes and speedster abilities allowed him to catch the item. He squinted down at it and saw that it was one of his protein bars. Oh. That was probably a good idea. He flashed (pun totally intended. See? Wally still had a sense of humor) Dinah a quick grin before stuffing the bar into his mouth. Not wanting to waste time, he did his best to chew and talk at the same time, "Alright, I'm going to run Zatanna and Miss Martian there first. Then I'll grab Black Canary and Changeling. I'll probably grab Robin next. Then Ballistic and then Red Arrow. We'll be a little distance away from the possible attack. We'll make our plan there. Everyone got that?" It was his way of asking for comprehension and agreement at the same time. Everyone nodded.

Alright, then. Off they went. Wally toted them over exactly as he'd explained he would, careful about how tight he was holding the Team members, careful about how fast he ran on their first time. Luckily, no one seemed _too_ affected by it. Red Arrow had to lean up against a wall for a long moment, holding his stomach with one hand. Miss Martian blinked a lot and her steps were more than a little shaky when she was first put down. Robin and Zatanna seemed to adore it, however. Robin was doing this strange (read: terrifying) cackle thing that honestly sent chills down Wally's spine. Zatanna's eyes had gone bright and excited, and she was wearing a huge grin. Wally felt the urge to preen. Someone who appreciates his speed was always like a breath of fresh air.

Still, he couldn't afford to bask in this at the moment. There were more serious things to talk about. Then again, there never really was a moment to bask in anything. Busy didn't even come close to describing the hectic nature of Wally's life. And most things he had to attend to were vitally important, too. There was never really a moment to relax and be a kid and feel special.

He faced his temporary team, "This is the info I've got so far. There are seven of them and they call themselves the Blood Pack." Kelvin gave him a narrow-eyed look and Wally nodded to him. These were the people who had offered for Kelvin to join them while they were on the run. He'd refused and turned himself into the Collection Agency on some sort of principal, determined to keep up the law. Wally continued, "They've been on our radar for a while, but never in a bad way. They're typically pretty vigilante-based – saving metas and all that jazz. The Light has apparently convinced them that they're the new safe haven for metas and, having a meta on the main council and that many metas already in their employ, they've got a lot to back them up. We're fuzzier on their exact powers. The leader is Jade, who's basically got powers similar to a Green Lantern. Then there's the Geist, who can turn invisible in bright light. Therefore, avoid bright light around him – and Jade too. Rumors are that she can photosynthesize or something ridiculous like that? Geist, however, can be blinded by _really_ bright light. I'm a little unclear on how that works. Hacker's name is Razorblade and she turns her arms into, well, razor blades. Sparx can turn into electricity and knows enough about electromagnetism to be pretty dangerous with that. Mongrel can fly and shook energy. We're not sure what kind or how to counteract it or whatever. Loria can turn into metal? What metal, I don't know. How long is lasts, I don't know. How far it goes, I don't know. No one really knows a thing about her. Then there's Nightblade. Meta powers aren't all that offensive, but he's got regenerative abilities, so be careful of that."

Wally had been flashing (pun _totally_ intended) pictures of each person as he spoke about them, more than slightly anxious about letting the heroes know this much about these metas. After all, they were going to brought back to the metahuman city to be processed and rehabilitated. He didn't like the heroes knowing this much about possible allies. He couldn't be helped, though.

Voice stern, Wally said, "Our objective is _not_ to take out the Blood Pack. Our objective is to thwart the Light's attempt to get the Blood Pack to join them."

"If we stop them from joining now and don't take them out, then what's to stop them from trying again later?" Zatanna asked fiercely. Wally bristled slightly before he realized that she wasn't accusing, just being realistic.

Still, Wallly wasn't about to explain the city they'd made either, "Let us worry about that. For right now, we've got to avoid being attacked by the Blood Back and, hopefully, we can nab a few Light goons while we're at it."

Robin was frowning, "Your information is kinda sparse."

"Well, there's only so much we can do about that. We've only been a team for about a year and there are _a lot_ of underground metahuman groups. We don't have the same access and history as you guys do. We're trying to identify all possible threats and allies before we start digging in deep." Wally answered, trying to not be offended. Honestly, it wasn't his fault that none of them really knew how to run a vigilante team fresh out of one of those metahuman camps. Dinah's mother had trained Dinah in this weird, almost vigilante way which was a large portion of why Dinah was an awesome fighter, so she knew some stuff. Kelvin had been a part of the Gotham police force, so they had that knowledge. Garfield had been tricked into stealing stuff and Cameron had been trained since birth to be a career criminal, so they knew how criminals thought. Harold was a genius with computers. Beyond that? Nothing. Not even the slightest thing to help them.

Apparently, that was all Robin needed to hear because he nodded in understanding and went silent. Wally glanced around, "Any questions about the information you've been given?" Everyone shook their heads.

Wally nodded back to them, "Alright, let's get to making a game plan, then."

 **Author's Note: So, I was trying to think of the term 'game plan.' For some reason, the term was** _ **not**_ **coming to me. I'm like, I know what I'm trying to say here, and I know there's a word for it, but I can't think of it. And then, bam! Song I was listening to said game plan. Glorious timing. Also, why did I decide to not have OC's? Because then I research metas and stuff and they're super interesting. And now I'm in love with the Blood Pack, but I can't see a reason for them to be important beyond this battle scene, which sucks. DC Comics are super interesting to read about, though. And all the research I'm doing for this fic? I'm falling into a hole, over here. Please help me. Anyways, Jinx is at 71 votes, Cameron is at 50 votes, Lorraine is at 20 votes, Zatanna is at 17 votes, the spy is at 3 votes, Roy, Conner, and Barbara are at 1 vote each. That's where the numbers are at. Two more chapters to vote and I'm going to ask for five more reviews for another chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Here we go again! MILDLY IMPORTANT: Okay, this is** _ **not**_ **a bonus chapter, sorry! This is a chapter to replace my usual weekend one. The rest of this week will be last minute scram packing and then moving into the new house, so I'm pretty sure I won't have time to write. So you get a random Tuesday update instead. This chapter may be a bit choppy because I won't be writing it in one sitting like I normally do. Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – Well, thank you for scarring me for life with the image of Twoface and Penguin in a relationship. Why would you do that to me? Kidding, but not really. Haha, anyways, thanks for the vote and the review!**

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WWWWWW

This was turning out to be a little bit more of a disaster than Wally had been expecting. Like, he wasn't sure why he had been expecting anything less than a disaster, but he had. And he was sorely disappointed. Because this was a disaster.

Creating the game plan had always been a team activity with Wally making the final decisions, unless they had to come up with a game plan really, really quickly in which case it was all up to Wally to do it. The reason he let everyone join in on planning out how they were going to attack is because he really didn't know enough about fighting and sneaking into places and taking information or whatever to come up with plans on his own. Again, he could make something if they got in a pinch and needed some quick thinking, but it just made sense to allow everyone's opinion and expertise into the decisions. Plus, he knew his people well enough to know that they'd get touchy if they weren't allowed some voice in the game plan.

Apparently, this was not the way the Team did things. They were used to Aqualad coming up with plans. Occasionally, he'd ask for advice from someone or he'd check to make sure that someone had a necessary skill. Otherwise, as leader, he always gave the order on where to go and when. The rest of the decisions were made by the Team members in the heat of the moment. To Wally, that seemed like a good way to grow resentment. Well, that's what he thought until he pictured Aqualad's razor-sharp smile and was promptly reminded of how terrifying and efficient Aqualad was. He was pretty sure he'd be fine taking order from him, too.

Anyways, making a game plan was something of a disaster for that reason. Wally and his people were doing fine, but their knowledge of the comforts and typical roles of the members of the Team were lacking. They were trying to draw them into the planning, but they were hesitant to take such a large role in designing the game plan. And when they finally took an active effort in designing the game plan, it was chaos!

"That's the stupidest idea I have ever heard in my entire life." This was from Zatanna in retaliation to one of Robin's comments.

Wally tried to interject (the idea actually hadn't been that bad; it had just needed a tweak here or there), but Miss Martian spoke up first, "We should not fight like this! I am sure that Robin's idea has merit. Although, elements of Zatanna's plan are quite useful as well." She adopted a thinking expression as both Robin and Zatanna glowered at her for not picking a side.

Red Arrow groaned loudly and said, "Let's just do Robin's thing!"

"You're just saying that because you've known him for longer! How am I supposed to compete against that? It's not _my_ fault that I haven't known you since we were kids or something!" Zatanna cried, throwing her hands in the air.

"You're still a kid," Red Arrow sneered.

Dinah rolled her eyes, "Because that's the mature response, really."

"Hey, he has a point. I mean, it's not his fault that she's taking it this way." Kelvin added. Wally wanted to die. His own team members were getting into this mess? Garfield had adopted the same thinking expression that Miss Martian had, and they were quietly thinking in the corner. Wally honestly felt a part of his soul dying.

"I'm not commenting on her behavior! I'm just saying that Red Arrow could be more mature! Don't patronize me, Ballistic!" Dinah snarled, getting up in Kelvin's face.

This, at least, was familiar territory. Wally felt a little less like his feet had been pulled out from underneath him with the reignition of this common argument. Voice hard, adopting what Cameron had dubbed his 'disappointed leader face', "If I hear one more insult coming from either of your mouths – _any_ of your mouths, - there will be problems."

Dinah and Kelvin quieted immediately and Zatanna, Robin, and Red Arrow followed soon after. Wally frowned at them all, "Now that we've figured out that you guys are useless at this without proper practice, we're going to do this a different way. I'll figure out a plan and tell you what to do. We're on a mission! I'm not saying that you can't joke around with each other and tease each other, but do _not_ get into an argument! Us standing together is the only thing that will stop the Light. Right now, you're no better than criminals because your negligence will let them get away. Am I understood?" He received a scattering of sheepish nods and wide-eyed stares. Huffing, Wally finished, "Again, I'm fine if you talk and joke around, but do not let negative emotions take over in a fight. I won't be responsible for any of you dying. Pull something like this again and you will be benched. And if some of you think I can't bench you because I'm not your leader, you're _wrong_. I am the co-leader of this group and I _will_ bench you. Am I understood?" He received the nods and wide-eyed stares again.

Releasing a breath of frustration, Wally ran a hand up through the red hair that stuck through his suit. Okay. This was okay. He could do this. Getting in and keeping the battle contained to the warehouse (in order to prevent irreversible damage to other buildings which could cause a lot of confusion) would be the easy part. The hard part would be going up against the Blood Pack. They had been working together longer than the Circus had, formed when they all got their powers the same way. They hadn't always been a vigilante group, but a lot of them had foreknowledge of fighting techniques, which was more than the Circus had when they formed. The worst part about going up against the Blood Pack was that they were expecting to be ambushed. And while the Team and Circus knew when they were going to be ambushed due to info from their spy, the Blood Pack didn't know. They'd have their hackles raised the whole day.

The attack would need to be immediate, would need to focus on being overt instead of covert. The Blood Pack were expecting a sneak attack, an ambush when they were least expecting it. The best way to get them off their game was to attack when they were most expecting it, in the flashiest way possible. They wouldn't see it coming. The hope would be that they could incapacitate a few of the members in that moment of confusion. The continuing struggle would be on more even terms. It would, actually, be more in Wally's favor. And that was what Wally needed if he wanted to subdue these guys without actually hurting them. Plus, the less energy exerted on this fight, the more energy there would be to go up against the Light goons that would come to test this group.

Looking around at his group, Wally narrowed his eyes. He had his plan.

The actual carrying out of the plan went a whole lot smoother than the plan-making process (which was, actually, exactly the opposite of what Wally had been expecting). The Team obviously didn't let anything phase them during battle.

Kelvin and Zatanna made more noise than Wally thought was possible when they quite literally broke down the door. And a large portion of the wall surrounding the door. Maybe a little bit of the window too. Yikes.

Kelvin had plucked up his massive bomb-throwing gun thing that Wally never bothered to learn the name of. Zatanna had chanted, "Ekam a duol esion!" Kelvin had released his bomb at the same time. The door had exploded with a booming crash that sounded a little bit like what Wally expected an enormous landslide to sound like.

Robin had thrown a smoke bomb into the building in tandem with Red Arrow's smoke arrow. The room was instantly filled with the stuff. Wally could hear coughing coming from inside, people trying to fan the smoke away from them. There was the sound of a terrific scream coming from the back of the warehouse. Wally could see a couple of the Team members flinch, obviously not really prepared for the sound Dinah could make. Still, it served its purpose of destroying the fuse box. The lights went out, leaving the Team and Circus reliant on their night-vision goggles. Kelvin had natural night vision and Wally knew that Garfield would have turned into a creature with reliable night vision.

Now, the Blood Pack were in the dark, surrounded by smoke, and caught off guard. Miss Martian had flown invisible over their heads with Garfield following her, transformed into a little green fly. Dinah had also come in the back, staying outside long enough to damage the fuse box.

Wally waited to make his move knowing that his speed would not only create bursts of lightning that would be obvious to see, but also would blow the smoke away. Both of which would be counter-productive.

Still, he watched the members of his team work through his goggles. He could hear a voice shouting, "Parw Xraps ni noitalusni!" He could hear a female yelping afterwards, pink fluffs of insulation floating down from the ceiling and wrapping around a figure that was sparking into bright blue electricity. There was a shifting shape off to the side of him and he saw a giant black (green) bear towering over a figure that had about the right dimensions to be Geist. That man was brought down in one paw swipe, incapable of being able to do anything but cower at the giant beast that had towered over him while he was separated from his team and startled by the noise and smoke.

That happened not a moment too soon because Jade lit up above them. She glowed a bright, hallowed green that immediately bathed over Geist and turned him invisible. Luckily, Garfield still had a hand on the metahuman and was securing him with the anti-meta powers cuffs. Otherwise, they would have had an invisible meta running around and that would have massively sucked. Wally hadn't guessed that the light from Jade's power would be enough to send Geist into invisibility.

Two down, five more to go.

Now that Jade was lighting up the room and a good portion of the smoke had dissipated, Wally made his move. He zipped into the room, immediately taking out Razorblade as she attempted to run for the fuse box or something more sinister that Wally hadn't been expecting. He punched her in the face before getting the cuffs around her wrists. Her arms immediately slimmed down into regular arms rather than the razor blades they'd been. The cuffs shifted size to match it.

A burst of light flashed in the corner of Wally's eyes. He was twisting around to avoid getting hit when a stray plank of wood levitated in front of him and took the brunt of the blast. Wally sent a grateful nod to Miss Martian (who was… somewhere in this mess).

Mongrel sent another volley of hits that Wally was able to dance around, legs jetting in and out of the bursts of dark colored light (that felt like an oxymoron, but Wally wasn't sure what else it could be). When Wally was close enough to lay a punch, a different hand intercepted the blow before a foot kicked Wally in the midriff hard enough to send him crashing back onto the floor behind him. Wheezing slightly, Wally found himself facing a new opponent, Nightblade. Mongrel was being taken care of by Kelvin's hulking form off to the side. Wally could hear Robin, Red Arrow, and Garfield working on Jade together. Loria was going against Miss Martian and Zatanna.

That meant that Wally had Nightblade all to himself.

Before Wally could even get himself back on his feet, there was a throwing knife inches from his face. Panicked briefly, Wally instinctually slowed down time. He watched the knife slow and then stop, still a safe distance from his face. Breathing out slowly, Wally grabbed the knife and walked over to where Nightblade was. Angling himself carefully, he made sure that he was in clear view of Jade (easily the most dangerous opponent) before he snapped the cuffs on Nightblade's wrists and held his own knife to his neck.

Time sped back to normal and with it came Nightblade's surprised cry and brief moment of struggle. Wally made sure that he wasn't getting out of the restraints before calling up, "Jade! Call off your people or watch them die!"

The team members who had been fighting Jade stopped, the rest of the Blood Pack's movements slowing as well as they stared at Nightblade in open horror. Jade sneered down at Wally, "The Light won't kill us if we fail."

Wally sent her a feral look, teeth bared, "Good thing we aren't the Light then. We're actually pretty against the Light." He could see, out of the corner of his eye, Robin shifting slightly, an uncomfortable expression taking over his expressions. He realized after a moment that it was adorning every Team member's face. What was their problem? Oh! Oh, yeah. The whole killing thing. They didn't kill. In hindsight, that was probably something that should have been talked about in the original meeting. Oh well. They'd talk about it later.

Jade paled, glancing around the room, noting that almost all of her comrades were fallen. The only one left standing was Mongrel. The rest were restrained in some way or another. There was a long moment of silence before, surprisingly, Robin spoke, "Oh, and those traps that you're waiting for Razorblade to set off? I've disabled them." He sent them a winning smile as Jade screamed in rage. Razorblade was scowling fiercely, a small tablet that Wally hadn't seen clenched in her hands. Despite the fact that they were cuffed behind her back, she'd still been trying to start off the traps. Wally was impressed with that kind of fortitude and skill.

Practically hissing at that point, Jade glared at Wally, "What do you want?"

"We want you to surrender yourselves. We don't want you to join the Light. They're not what you think they are." Wally answered. He kept his grip tight on the knife pressed against Nightblade's neck.

Jade snarled, "And what do we think they are?"

"Safe haven? A place for people like you to fight back and save your own kind – _our_ kind – with actual backup and gadgets and a place to live other than whatever hole in the wall you manage to find? Some mixture of the two?" Wally guessed, trying to keep his voice as non-threatening as possible while he physically threatened her teammate.

She swallowed. Wally could actually see her resolve weaken. He pressed, "That's not what the Light is. I can provide that for you, though. At the very least, I can do my best. I'm not promising anything other than my sincere efforts. I represent the Circus. I can help you _and_ your team."

He watched as Jade scanned the room, watching each and every member of her team. He watched her realize that none of them were all that injured. The worst injuries came from the bruise forming on Geist's face and the several slash marks on Mongrel's clothes. Suddenly, she stiffened, " _Ballistic_."

"Hey, Jade. Been a while, hasn't it?" Kelvin asked with a sardonic smile, one eye still focused on Mongrel.

Jade shook her head, "But… you turned yourself into the Collection Agency! You said… Did you lie?"

"No. I turned myself in and they brought me to a camp. A little over three years later, Supersonic broke us out of there and formed the Circus. It was only natural that I followed him." Kelvin said, nodding his head towards Wally. Wally nodded his head back.

There was a naked hope in Jade's eyes when she turned back to Wally, "You broke him out of camp?"

"Yeah," Wally answered. He didn't need to say anything more. She instantly made a hand signal and her teammates relaxed. Carefully, Wally did a super speedy pat down of Nightblade and grabbed as many knives as he could before lightly shoving the Blood Pack member away from him. Jade came over and turned around, offering her hands behind her.

Red Arrow raised his eyebrows, obviously curious that she would so willingly let herself be cuffed. Jade looked over her shoulder at Wally, "Just one question before I let you take us away. Why are you working with _them_?" She jerked her head at the heroes, who had naturally clumped together.

Wally answered as honestly as he could, "We have a common goal." Jade frowned, obviously not pleased with the lack of information, but she acquiesced anyways, letting Wally cuff her.

Wally let out a breath of relief, "Okay, here's what's going to happen next. I'm going to bring these guys to a couple warehouses over. I'll send Kelvin over with them as protection and to make sure that they don't get out. We'll get ready for the next phase. We'll deal with the Blood Pack when I'm done, got it?" He got nothing but nods again.

Blowing out a breath, Wally started carting the people over, starting with Kelvin to make sure that there was someone there to watch the group.

Of course, it wasn't the Blood Pack that he needed to worry about. Somehow, in the nanosecond or whatever that had passed from when he grabbed the last Blood Pack member to his return to the original warehouse, pandemonium had erupted. Unbelievable.

Not even taking a second to sigh (although he really, really wished he could), Wally dove into battle. It was looking like Ra's al Ghul's assassins again, though there were definitely metahumans mixed in. Once again, unbelievable. How on earth did he miss them going between the warehouses? Had they see him moving between the warehouses? Were they going for Kelvin even as they attacked here?

No, he could worry about that later. The majority of his people were here, in this warehouse. He needed to focus on that instead. Nothing else. Kelvin would be okay. He had the release to the handcuffs if he needed extra backup. He was fine.

Okay, back to the fight.

Robin had evidently reactivated the traps because there were assassins dangling from the stereotypical tightening rope trick (although, the rope was not breaking… what was that made out of?) and a group of metas inside of a glass cage that was quickly filling with a brightly colored smoke that was causing the metas to fall to the ground. Wally zipped over to where his team was standing, forming a concentrated unit against the enemy.

"They came out of nowhere!" Zatanna shouted, obviously frightened.

"Yeah, I'm starting to realize that. We need a moment to get our bearings back. Black Canary's going to do a sweep. The rest of you fan out and go for the openings she creates. Oh, and I would cover your ears." Wally threw back, already zipping towards the other side of the warehouse. He could hear Garfield taking to the air behind him, heading for the other end of the warehouse. They would move inwards through the enemies while the rest worked their way outwards. It wasn't as classy or put together as it could have been if they'd been given an _instant_ longer to prepare, but it was all they had.

He saw Robin open his mouth to say something, but Dinah firmly put his hands over his ears. Robin jerked a little bit under her touch but allowed it in the end. When everyone had their ears covered (for all the good it would do them, unfortunately), Dinah turned back towards the enemy that had them completely surrounded. She opened her mouth and _screamed_.

Wally saw Zatanna and Miss Martian violently flinch. Red Arrow started cursing and Robin blinked, a little dazed. Luckily, Dinah threw a kick behind her to remind whoever was closest to start attacking in the openings. That was Red Arrow and he glared at her for a moment before realizing what she was trying to show. He moved into the opening, shoulders hunching a little bit as if to cover his ears while his hands were busy with his bow. Dinah kept screaming, knocking down the first wave of attackers.

Miss Martian moved into the next available spot, floating into the air and sending crates and other things flying at the assassins and metas gathered there. Robin moved next, a batarang exploding into yellow dust that fell into the assassin's eyes. They cried out, but Robin was already there, slashing at them with his bo staff and kicking out at them when that wasn't enough. He engaged himself in a battle surrounded by the assassins, fighting each one as they all surrounded him. Zatanna moved last, letting out a round house kick to the assassin who came closest. She raised her hands in front of her, hands splayed almost like she was conducting marionette puppets below her, "Ekahs siht ebolgwons!"

Almost immediately, a localized snowstorm erupted in front of her, slamming the opponents in front of her into the ground. Huh, that was kind of neat.

Focusing back in on his own fight, Wally punched on man in the jaw, dodging out of the way of another man's sword. A woman jumped on his back. Wally didn't have the time to turn around and deal with her, so he sped up his molecules, heating up the area beyond what a normal human would withstand.

Which, apparently, was moot here. Although the woman yelped, and Wally could smell her clothes start to singe, she kept holding on, pulling back on his cowl in a way that started choke him.

Gagging, Wally jumped up, kicking out in front of him. His feet made connection with the person in front of him, and Wally used the boost from pushing off of that person to slam his back into the ground. The woman gasped as a cracking sound came from her chest. She finally let go. Wally spun up and around, kicking her once more to make sure she was really down before he went back into the fight.

Somehow, they'd become somewhat bunched up again, a small cluster of heroes and good metas in a sea of assassins and bad metas. The only ones not settled in that were Garfield and Miss Martians as the only fliers.

Garfield decided to change that, dropping out of the air in an angry thud, a huge rhino standing where a hawk had been moments before. The rhino lifted his head, smashing it back down into a group of metahumans standing in front of him. Wally saw that Garfield had landed on a few metas when he'd fallen. Ouch.

With a triumphant roar, Garfield turned into a lion that bared its teeth and bit out at whomever was closest. When that did nothing to disrupt the foes closing in on the group, Garfield bared his teeth one more time before lunging back and into an even larger beast. Wally raised his eyebrows as he fought, watching the giant green Tyrannosaurus Rex fill up the remaining space in the warehouse. Wally had honestly thought that the T. Rex wasn't going to fit. Guess he was wrong.

Red Arrow was cursing again, this time apparently at the fact that there was now a dinosaur sharing a small enclosed space with him. Zatanna was staring at Garfield with slack-jawed wonder. Which, honestly, Wally thought was a little unfair. She just created a miniature snowstorm out of thin air! She had no right to be shocked. (Wally was so going to find out how she did that).

Despite the fact that the T. Rex form did fit in the warehouse, it was a tight fit. There was little to no maneuverability. Garfield was able to turn around and swish his tail at anyone who got too close and he could stamp his feet a little bit, but that was about the extent of his usefulness. Still, that was quite useful.

Without about half of the remaining assassins and metas taken out by Garfield's move alone, the rest of the fight was relatively easy.

Wally struck out at enemy after enemy, kicking and dodging and throwing blows. He was a whirlwind among the enemies, bright, vibrant lightning trailing after him in sparks and waves. He was a literal storm falling down on their heads, catching their knives and bullets and petty human weapons with his hands, reveling in their shocked expressions. They shouldn't underestimate a speedster.

Of course, getting cocky was Wally's number one reason for losing. It was hard not to, though. Even though he'd had any sort of self-worth destroyed in that camp, they'd never been able to take away his love of his speed. It was something that, as far as he knew, no one else had. It was power and lightning working effortlessly with a metahuman body. He could live in his own world, a spot of time beyond what humans could access. It was his and he loved it with every fiber of his being.

That didn't help him all that much when the stupid assassins learned things really quickly. They'd apparently figured out that it would be very, very difficult for him to run on a ground that's rolling. That prompted one of them to drop what looked like a _ton_ of needles onto the floor. Wally didn't see them fast enough. He didn't even know they were there until he was already falling, feet sliding out from right beneath him.

His breath whooshed out of him and he felt one of the needles pierce through a weak point of his suit, sliding into the skin. Wally hissed, finger twitching towards the needle. It didn't feel like there was any sort of poison on there, but it was hard to tell. Sometimes, Wally ran through the symptoms of a poison too fast to even really detect a poison in the first place.

There was someone literally on top of him before he was able to so much as lift his arms. The person grabbed his head (in a really, really strong grip) and slammed his head against the ground. Wally gasped, dizziness overtaking his vision as a concussion swam into being.

Head pounding, Wally bucked up underneath the person, trying to dislodge them. They stayed stubbornly fastened on, hands clamped around his head, sending the thrumming drum beats pounding back and forth between their fingers. Swallowing down a moment of panic, Wally bucked again, this time getting his knee up underneath the person. He abruptly straightened his knee into the air, painfully snapping his knee and leg into his assailant's crotch.

Disturbingly, that was _not_ enough to get the person off of him, but it was at the very least enough to get the enemy to release Wally's head. Already knowing that it was a bad idea, Wally smashed his forehead into the enemy's forehead. The drum smashing around in his head centered in his forehead for a moment before seeming to gain strength from the impact, dashing around his head in increasingly louder patterns of pain. Concussions sucked. Why was Wally so stupid?

With the person dazed and in pain, Wally finally rolled out from under them, knocking them sideways off his chest. He managed to kick out at their still form, making contact with their head. There. They wouldn't be getting up from that one.

Blinking through his swimming vision, Wally was pretty sure that everyone else had finished their battles. Garfield no longer seemed to be a T. Rex. That, or Wally just couldn't see him which would be honestly impressive. Swallowing down the rising nausea, Wally rolled just a little bit further until he was up against a wall (when did he even get near the wall?). He used that to pull himself up, rubbing at his temple as he did so.

He blinked again, trying to stop the way the room circled around him. He really, really hated concussions. A voice called out of the lake of colors in front of him, "Hey, you doing alright? You don't look so good."

A couple more blinks revealed the speaker to be Robin, stood a couple of feet away and peering at him cautiously. Wally squished his eyes closed, putting his hand up to his forehead for the briefest of moments before opening his eyes again and finally answering Robin, "I'm good. Let's head on back to the others."

Wally was pretty sure Robin's eyebrows rose before he said worriedly, "The others are right here."

Squinting, Wally blinked around him again and… yep. Yeah, that was the rest of his team. Wally pressed his hand to his forehead again, "This concussion is worse than I thought. I hate concussions so much. This is a really sucky one too."

"Not to sound rude or anything because I really, really don't mean to be, but how are we getting back to base? Because that looks like a really, really bad concussion. Something like that will knock someone out of commission for a couple of weeks. He can't run us home like that!" Zatanna asked, sounding increasingly panicked as she went on.

"Supersonic?" Dinah prompted.

Wally groaned, "I hate my life. Um, give me, like, a half an hour and I should be good. We've got to get these guys bound and processed anyways. Or, well, I'm assuming you guys process the assassins. Which, wait. We should… talk about stuff. That stuff. Um. Metas. We will take the metas – Blood Pack and these guys. You guys can get all the assassins. I'll run the metas to somewhere safe."

The Team members shared a significant look, but they didn't say anything. Wally suspected telepathic communication again. Maybe. He was not in the right headspace to figure out the meaning behind that sort of significant look.

"You know," Robin started tentatively, "We're supposed to turn metas that we catch in to the Collection Agencies."

"And _that_ is something that we really should have discussed during our initial meeting. For now, can we just say that we haven't decided on how we're going to deal with this and, since this is a Circus mission, we get the metas and you get the assassins?"

After a long pause where they all gave each other significant looks again and tension in the room rose, Red Arrow nodded at him, "You've got a deal."

"Awesome. I'm going to start rounding up metas. I don't think we have enough cuffs with us." Wally said, pushing off the wall and starting towards the group.

Dinah caught him as he started swaying and drooping, laughing gently, "You're going to sit here and recover while _we_ go deal with them, okay? The faster you recover, the faster we can leave."

Wally blinked, a new thought coming to him as the murky fog wrapped around his head started to dissipate, "Injuries! Is anyone injured?"

"Only you, Super Klutz," Garfield answered, grinning in response to Wally's scandalized expression. It was a running joke among the rest of the Circus. Instead of calling him Supersonic, they'd call him Super Something. Like Super Klutz or Super Stupid or Super Sadist whenever he made them do hard training routines.

Robin cackled again, and Miss Martian gave a little giggle as she went, the rest of Wally's team heading off to go work on cleaning up the mess that had been made in the warehouse. Wally sat back and tried to relax without falling asleep.

Everyone once in a while, he'd call out a helpful comment to someone, or remind someone of a person stuck up in the rafters or behind a crate. Mostly, though, he just sat and reflected on the mission.

It was not anywhere near the problem that Wally had been afraid that it would become. The group he was in charge of worked well together. Well, they worked well _around_ each other. They didn't know how to fight together yet. That just meant that they had great spatial awareness and a level of understanding relating to fighting alongside other heroes. Still, it was a starting point and that was more than Wally was hoping for.

He didn't know how the other group was doing and he wasn't sure he wanted to know at the moment. He was fairly certain that Artemis would be professional enough to not make her animosity a problem out in the field, but he wasn't entire certain. And he wasn't certain how his own people were going to ask. He knew that Cameron would do his best to keep tempers down, but there was a chance that Jinx or Lorraine could snap. He didn't know. He'd worry about that later. Not now. Later.

This team was rather skilled, too. For all that he was able to get an overview of their powers and abilities through televised battles, there was a lot that he didn't know about their powers and skills, things that had surprised him tonight. And, if he was being honest, impressed him.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Garfield tapping him on the shoulder, "We're ready to go. You good?"

Closing his eyes and opening them, Wally took stock of himself. His head was no longer pounding. There was a distinct lack of stationary objects moving. Nodding, Wally said, "I'm good. How many does it look like I'm running?"

"You're running sixteen, if you include one of us to go over there and get them secured." Dinah answered promptly, anticipating the question.

"Sixteen?" Wally groaned, "Alright, alright. Well, since you volunteered, you'll be going will them to get them secured, Black Canary." Dinah rolled her eyes but nodded. Wally shook out his shoulders, grabbed a protein bar out of one of his arm compartments, scarfed it down, and then shook out his shoulders again, "Alright, I'm ready to go. I'll bring you over first." He grabbed Dinah around the waist and raced her over to the metahuman city they'd set up. He put her in front of the make-shift prison. It wasn't exactly a prison. More like a correctional facility than anything else.

He flashed her a thumbs-up, and she sent a nod and a smile back. Nodding back to her again, Wally sped off. Time to get the rest.

At his careful running-new-people speed, he was able to get all sixteen metas over to the city within five minutes.

He came back panting, "You do not understand how much running I have done today. I don't think I've run this much with this many loads in a long time. This is ridiculous."

Kelvin patted him on the back, "You go ahead and rest for a second. We can wait to go home for another moment or so. Just as long as we're gone before the police get here."

"And how long is that?" Wally asked.

Kelvin looked to Robin, who glanced down at a watch before responding, "About four minutes."

Wally groaned again, "Break over, I guess. Alright, who's first?"

Zatanna and Robin's hands both shot up immediately. _That_ was the kind of reaction that got him ready to go again. People excited to run with him made him excited to run, gave him a burst of energy. He held out a hand to Zatanna, "I can carry you bridal and Robin can go piggy back?" She nodded and smiled. After only the briefest of hesitations, Zatanna grabbed his hand and allowed him to pull her close. Wally put a steadying hand on her back before sweeping her feet up into his other arm. Robin gingerly got onto his back, latching on.

And Wally _ran_.

In the end, since Wally was able to carry Beast Boy with any of the others, Wally was able to get them all back to the new headquarters in three minutes and ten seconds. Kelvin clapped him heartedly on the back, "Talk about cutting it close, yeah?"

"I _dare_ you to do better," Wally muttered. The whole group laughed, coming off of the post-successful-mission high that always left a group feeling light and sleepy and _content_ in a way nothing else could. It was moments like this that led to some of the best bonding moments.

Red Arrow stretched his arm behind him, "Anyone want to see what kind of goods the kitchen has?"

"Yes!" Garfield cheered, turning into a dog and turning in a circle before he fell on his back and wiggled on the ground. Zatanna put her hand over her mouth and giggled.

Robin tilted his head to the side, "We never got a chance to really ask you guys what your eat, or how you eat and whatever."

"Vegetarian!" Garfield announced, suddenly popping back as a human.

Miss Martian put a finger to her lip, "I would have thought that you would eat meat, having so many animals within you be carnivores."

Garfield wrinkled his nose, "It doesn't really work like that? I mean, the way I think about it is that all those animals that you eat? I can turn into that. It's basically cannibalism every time I eat meat."

"I never thought of it that way!" Miss Martian responded, expression wide with horror. Her expression cleared and became determined, "I will learn more vegetarian meals to help you!"

Wally's eyebrows rose, but all he said was, "Firehawk is a vegetarian too. Maser's allergic to shellfish. The rest of them have normal diets. Kelvin needs about a thousand more calories a day than the average person. On a day with regular activity levels, I need about ten thousand calories. On a day like today? Probably nearing fifteen, twenty thousand calories."

Zatanna, Robin, and Red Arrow was staring at him with something approaching horror. Red Arrow was the one who voiced it, "Where do you even _get_ that much food? How do you even have enough time in the day to eat all that?"

"I eat fast, too!" Wally defended, cheeks darkening.

They continued to stare at him for a long moment. Then Robin started laughing (read: cackling terrifyingly) again. The rest of them followed him soon after. Wally glowered, "Why do I feel like the majority of today's bonding have occurred over laughing at me?" They all just laughed harder.

Yeah, Wally thought, this really had a chance of working.

 **Author's Note: So, if you've read any of my other fics, you've invariably heard me complaining about writing action scenes because I hate them with every fiber of my being. But! This was actually surprisingly fun to write. Like, I had so much fun writing it that I wrote over 6k. It's weird. Anyways, Jinx is at 77, Cameron is at 56, Zatanna is at 18, and the rest have not changed. One more chapter to vote! Six more reviews for another chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Thanks for the patience, guys! I am moved into my new house. Obviously, we're still trying to get things unpacked and all that jazz. Also, be excited! This is my first time writing from Aqualad's POV! I'm excited. Ans nervous. Because he's hard. Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – Aw, thanks! Haha, I'm glad my fic helped you get into fan fiction. Just saying, I wish the fic that got me into fan fiction was complete. Or, well, still on the site. The person who wrote it gave up and took what was already written down. Broke my heart. Thanks for the review and the vote!**

 **HI – Well, you'll find out in this chapter. Thanks for the review!**

 **Anett –** **¡me alegra que te guste! He estado tratando de revelar lentamente la historia de cada uno de los personajes. Los metahumanos y el circo definitivamente se están acercando y estoy emocionado de que realmente se hagan amigos. Gracias por la crítica!**

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KKKKKK

Kaldur was… not entirely certain what to make of his current team. This mixture of team members had a significantly higher chance of becoming volatile than any other combination. The reasons for this were Artemis and Firehawk. They had already had a bad start at the initial meeting. Artemis had not cared for Firehawk's slightly brusque character. Firehawk had not seemed to care for Artemis's suspicion.

Speaking of which, Kaldur would need to talk to Artemis about her hostility and suspicion. Roy's theories as to the origin of Artemis's reactions to the Circus sounded plausible but were only theories until Kaldur could get answers from the girl herself. Artemis was a complicated character. She was not the newest member of the team, but she acted like it, purposefully separating herself from the rest of the group, remaining as coldly distant as possible while still being able to work with the Team. According to Robin, Artemis had her reasons for acting distant. He said that she was keeping secrets that she believed would cause the rest of the Team to look at her unfavorably. This, of course, only added to Roy's insistence that Artemis was the most likely candidate for the mole.

An argument drew him out of his thoughts. It was an argument between Icicle and Jinx. Icicle was scowling, eyes rolling aggressively, "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Jinx scowled right back, some form of expression finally crossing her face, "Yeah. Right. I've heard some of the things you and Supersonic talk about. I couldn't even _touch_ that level of stupidity."

"You're the worst kind of moron. Stupid and unrepentant." Icicle sneered. Firehawk and Maser were making abortive movements to get them to stop arguing in the background. Kaldur sighed. For all that the Circus members were considered terrorists and made up of the incredibly controversial metahuman species, they were still just teenagers. And boys and girls fight as teenagers (at all ages, but especially as teenagers).

"Perhaps we could focus on the strategy instead," Kaldur suggested drolly, attempting to keep up his usual pleasant-and-understanding mask. They were acting like children. Especially dangerous, occasionally murderous children, but still children.

Icicle snapped bright blue, calculating eyes up to Kaldur. The Atlantean resisted the urge to return a sharp look. The Circus's second in command certainly seemed to be able to live up to his position. He was always watching, significantly more on the alert than any of the other members. He had the same suspicious attitude as Supersonic, but without the bone-weary tiredness that seemed to permeate Supersonic's character. He wondered if they were as much of a balance to each other as Kaldur and Robin were. Robin was the unofficial second-in-command, placed there because of his and Kaldur's ability to work well together and Robin's training as a Bat. He had also been a superhero for longer than any of the other members, largely considered the first sidekick.

Kaldur was always calm and collected, a team player who was used to working out in a battlefield, treating each situation as a war, his teammates members of his troop. Robin was excited and bright, a solo hunter who was used to stalking the darkest parts of humanity in the darkness and gloom. Ying and yang. Perfect first and second in command for a group. Were Supersonic and Icicle like that? Or was their leadership different, a stranger sort of push and pull?

Now was not the time to think of such things. There was a battle soon to start.

Ever since the Team traveled to India and discovered the experimentation that the Brain had been doing with the Kobra Venom, there had been a significant increase in Venom sightings across the world. It was concentrating in the United States, being shipped from place to place before it was smuggled into this nation. The Venom always came in small bursts, no one willing to risk a large shipment after their failure on Santa Prisca.

It was hard work tracking down each small instance of Venom that happened across the borders, but they had finally found a shipment. They would, hopefully, be able to stop a drug ring in the process. That is, if they were able to work together long enough for it to happen.

Artemis's glower had been a steady presence through the trip, the expression darkening the portions of her face visible underneath the mask. Her problem with metahumans was definitely an issue that needed to be addressed as soon as they returned to the new base. If possible, Kaldur wanted Supersonic to do that conversation with him. He would like to start demonstrating the idea that the two of them were now co-leaders of this fused team. With that in mind, there were several other things that Kaldur wanted to address with Supersonic, and there were sure to be more things discovered on this mission. A high-stress combat situation like this was simultaneously the best and the worst way of discovering problems within a team. On the one hand, a large portion of potential problems will be spotted. On the other hand, those problems could get the team killed. And that would not happen on Kaldur's watch.

While Kaldur had been thinking, the group had been going over the plan. He had outlined it earlier, watching the Circus members carefully. There had been a few occasions where they had opened their mouths, to say something or to correct him, he wouldn't know because they never actually spoke. Kaldur would need to talk to Supersonic about that, about the technique he used to design, explain, and execute the plan. He usually allowed the members of the Team to go over their own parts individually after he had explained the whole plan, which was what they had been doing.

They understood the plan. They understood their own parts and the parts of the others. Both of which was completely necessary for a mission to run smoothly. Kaldur added to the conversation, "Remember, these enemies will be numerous, but human. It is believed that they have no knowledge of the importance of the drug they are smuggling. They are a regular drug ring that happened upon irregular drugs."

Firehawk had a slightly pinched expression, "You guys are covert ops, right? What does this have to do with covert ops?"

Kaldur smoothly talked over whatever Artemis had been opening her mouth to say, "The Justice League does not want knowledge of the development, distribution, and true nature of Venom to be released to the public and cause an unnecessary panic."

After a pause, Firehawk admitted, "Legitimate." Artemis rolled her eyes on the other side of the bioship. Kaldur fought the urge to sigh again.

Conner suddenly said, "We're here."

The group looked up, out the window, as one. They were hovering invisibly above the warehouse they had come to raid. Honestly, Kaldur was always mildly disappointed (and subsequently guilty for feeling that way) when criminals followed such a cliché pattern. They should understand that this was an overused method of transfer. It might be convenient, but the higher risk of being caught hardly seemed to be less important than the convenience. But, in reality, he wanted them to continue to fall into such clichés because, that way, they were easier to catch, and he would have to worry about one less drug ring in the world.

Icicle whistled slightly behind them, "What happened to small shipments?"

Kaldur turned to look where the ice-covered teenager was looking and couldn't help the way his eyebrows rose in surprise. There were massive boxes being transported, large enough to require a crane and fragile enough that the movers were tripping over themselves to get the fragile sticker lathered boxes safely to the ground. It was certainly not the small pouches of Venom they had been expecting.

Maser arched a brow, "And we're supposed to take the merchandise? This thing got a crane?"

Rocket grinned easily, sharp and wild, "I'm sure my shields can do the trick."

Tilting his head to the side, Maser decided, "Yes, they probably would." He paused for a second before announcing, "You're pretty handy." He sent her an easy grin. It obviously surprised Rocket, but she sent a grin back, albeit a shakier, more confused one.

Kaldur pulled the conversation back on track, "Regardless, the plan remains the same. We all have our comms linked to each other. Only speak when you have finished a job or if you find yourself in trouble. Prepare for landing." It was basically the same speech that he gave every mission when they were leaving the bioship. Kaldur had gotten used to his regular range of responses. It was disconcerting to see new reactions and movements in response to his words. It was not bad; it was the same thing they went through every time the Team gained a new member. It would take some getting used to, but Kaldur was not opposed to it.

The bioship touched down.

The battle was wildly chaotic. The Team had members whose abilities made for bright colors and bursts of different textures, but not so many at the same time. M'gann caused various objects to float. Rocket had her blue spheres. Zatanna's magic could sometimes become bright and loud. This time, though, there were beams of ice shooting through the air, glare ground sparkling beneath them. Electric yellow steaks and blue sparks echoed off and around Maser, his entire form shifting into the brightly colored lights for brief moments. Jinx's hands lit up in a pink aura, the color transferring to the target of her abilities. Firehawk's brilliant white flames lit up the remaining areas.

The lights and sparks and ice were distracting, new noises and sounds and _chaos_ that Kaldur had been unable to imagine on a battle scene. He could only imagine what the full Circus would look like facing someone in a fight. It would certainly be an impressive battle, sounds and sights reminiscent of an action film.

It was also, unfortunately, counterproductive towards the Team's overall goal: covert actions. The Circus's abilities had the potential to attract a lot of attention. It was directly opposite what the Team members aimed for. That was frustrating, but currently unavoidable. It would take a lot of training to fix that problem. Honestly, it was a miracle that the Circus hadn't been caught yet.

Overall, though, the battle went smoothly. The Team members and the Circus members both occasionally lost focus due to sights and sounds and actions that they hadn't been prepared for. Kaldur saw Firehawk jerk back and almost overbalance when one of Artemis's arrows (shot true and directly to intercept the man sneaking through the rafters towards Firehawk) flew closer to her than she had been prepared for. The looks they had sent each other had been nothing short of acidic, but they, thankfully, had been mature and experienced enough to get back into the fight without causing problems among themselves in the midst of battle. Thank goodness for small mercies, as Roy would say.

The only snag in the experience that they hit was afterwards. Raquel had taken the large boxes and cocooned them in her spheres, concentration only on them as the bioship pulled away, drug dealers secured and awaiting local police.

Firehawk snarled at Artemis, "Were you _aiming_ for my face?"

Artemis rolled her eyes, sneering, "If I'd been aiming for your face, I would have hit it. Unlike you. It took you two or three tries to hit any of the people you aimed for. And you can control the path of your flames after you shoot them. That's impressively bad."

A bitter chuckle came from Firehawk as her chest puffed out, flames flaring brightly for a moment, "I _guarantee_ you that I'm doing this better than you ever would have been able to."

"Trust me, I wouldn't have wanted to do it anyways. I rather like not turning into a monster every time I want to kill some people." Artemis hissed, hand clenched over her bow.

Surprisingly, it was Icicle who stepped in first, beating Kaldur by a fraction of a second. His voice was low and tense, "Firehawk. Transform back. Now."

"She's still got her hand on her bow! Why should I have to let go of my weapon when she won't let go of hers?" Firehawk asked, turning on her own teammate. Kaldur watched as Artemis's grip on the bow loosened, an expression of pure confusion on her face as she watched Icicle fight for her.

Icicle's voice was still calm and even when he responded, "Her weapon is a whole lot harder to accidentally hit a bystander with. Besides, you know the rules: no hurting a teammate with your powers. She's your teammate now. Act like it."

"Again, why do _I_ have to when she won't? She's been rude and obnoxious towards us this entire time! It's quite frankly disturbing how many times she's managed to insult us in the day she's known us! Why do I have to be the mature one when she's acting like this?" Firehawk snapped, obviously furious.

"As far as I see," Icicle said, his own kind of cold fury leaking through his words, "Artemis _has_ been the mature one. That shot she took? It took out a person behind you. This argument? _You_ were the one that started it, going at her for helping you. The weapon thing? She didn't grab her weapon until you flared up at her. She thinks of us as criminals. She's understandably threatened. Transform. Back. Now."

Firehawk's yellowish-orange chin clenched angrily for a second before it loosened, skin gently shifting back to a calmer tanned color, hair falling around her shoulders in easy auburn waves. She glowered at Icicle, stalking back to her seat and sitting there, fuming. It was obvious that she was furious that Icicle had sided with a human over her – and for good reason, too. Kaldur wasn't sure why Icicle would pick a Team member over his own. Did he really believe that strongly that Firehawk was in the wrong? Even Kaldur wasn't that convinced of Firehawk's faults. Artemis had been baiting the Circus members since they had met. It was only a matter of time before one of them snapped. Kaldur was just glad that they hadn't snapped on a mission.

Conner's quiet voice brought him to Kaldur's attention, "Icicle and Firehawk are talking to each other. Do you want to hear what they're saying?"

On the one hand, he really shouldn't breach their privacy like this. On the other hand, he needed to know as much about his team as he possibly could. He needed to know how they ticked. He nodded to Conner, who started narrating the Circus members' conversation.

Firehawk hissed, "Why did you side with _her_? Are you _trying_ to humiliate me in front of them?"

Icicle sighed, "Fire, you _know_ what our fearless leader said. _Don't_ antagonize the Team. They're doing us a favor by letting us work with them. They could get in a lot of trouble for colluding with 'terrorists.' Besides, we're trying to show that metas _aren't_ what they're made out to be. Remember that part? Confrontations and irritable attitudes immediately disprove what we're trying to show. This is our _only_ chance at changing the hero community's view of metas."

"Yeah, well _Artemis_ isn't changing her mind any time soon." Firehawk threw back.

There was a frown in Icicle's voice when he finally responded, "People who feel that strongly about metas have often had a bad experience with metas. We just have to show her that the bad ones aren't the only ones. I have faith. She really did save your life today."

Firehawk let out a little huff of breath, voice strained when she said, "So she has one good mark for her. Congratulations." She paused for a long moment, neither metahuman speaking. Then she spoke again, voice slightly nervous, "Are you… you going to tell Supersonic about this?"

"Of course," came the immediate response from Icicle.

Firehawk sighed, slumping in her chair, voice slightly louder, "He's going to kill me. I didn't even go through the proper argument process."

"The… what?" Raquel asked, having been sitting close enough to hear them when Firehawk became louder. Her voice drew the attention of the rest of the occupants of the bioship.

Blushing underneath her domino mask, Firehawk explained, "Supersonic does his best to make sure that everyone's on the same page and not upset with each other or anything. If you want to have it out with someone, keep it to yourself until you're back at base. Then, tell Supersonic that you're upset with someone. He'll get you and that person, hear out each of your stories individually, and then let us have it out with each other while he's sitting there. He butts in if he thinks the argument is getting dangerous or whatever. Obviously, it doesn't always work because it takes a lot of willpower to keep somethings inside, but it's helpful most of the time. I guess."

Kaldur thought about it. That did seem like a useful technique, but, "Does Supersonic have training to deal with the emotional confrontations of teammates?"

Maser's face scrunched up behind them all, "Not really, no. Black Canary has some knowledge about that kind of stuff, but it's not super concrete. She taught him everything she knew, though. I think he's read some books about it." Maser shrugged.

Icicle pitched in, "And most of the problems are pretty superficial – the normal kinds of problems that come from a group of people suddenly starting to live together. Nothing that can't be fixed through some legitimate communication. The really big problems that people have are more individual problems than problems with another person."

Raquel smiled, going for friendly, "I respect you guys for being able to live together like that. Zatanna, Miss Martian, and Superboy all live together at HQ, but that's still only three of them. Although, Aqualad stays there quite often too, don't you Aqualad?"

Kaldur nodded back, a small smile for the newer hero, "Yes. Most of the time it is easier to stay at headquarters than to return to different lodgings every night."

Icicle sent them a friendly smile back, "It's not so bad after a while. It can actually be pretty convenient. I mean, sometimes it gets to the point that I can't stand the sight of my teammates, but it all works out in the end. The worst is safehouses. In our main base, we've got the space for each of us to have our own rooms, but not a lot of innocuous houses have enough rooms for all of us. Sharing with each other can get kind of irritating. I mean, Supersonic is the best, but sharing a room with him is _not_ fun. He's a slob, first of all. And a _hoarder_. He snores, too. It's awful." His last few comments elicited a startled laugh out of Artemis, who looks around in horrified shock as if her body had horribly betrayed her.

There was a pause as the entire team blinked at her in shock. It was not long before they were all laughing, even Artemis laughing slightly, hand covering her mouth and chuckled shaking her shoulders.

Glancing around at the group, Kaldur smiled to himself. This really had a chance of working.

 **Author's Note: Sorry this is short! Blame the hassle of moving. And the fact that my brother refuses to do any work. And the fact that there was an action scene and I hate action scenes. And my birthday being in two days and preventing me from writing over the weekend. And it being my first time writing Aqualad. If you can't tell, I struggled during this chapter. Anyways, this is your last chapter to vote! Make it count! Jinx is at 105, Cameron is at 91, and Zatanna is at 20! By the way, I normally keep a sticky note where I add tally marks each time I get a vote for the pairing, but I lost it during the move and now I'm having to recount it all because people keep adding things on random chapters. That was devastating. I'm going to ask for four reviews for another chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: So, I'm going to do my best to avoid this, but I might not be able to update next week. I'm moving into college next week (I'm not ready to go, why can't I still be in elementary school?), so there's a chance I might not be able to get a chapter out. Again, I'll do my absolute best to update, but there's still a chance I might not. Just to let you know! Read, review, and enjoy!**

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 **Guest – Haha, the reason I didn't do that is because I'm trash at computers (read: everything even remotely technological) and avoid them at all costs, therefore occasionally forgetting that they have such useful features as control f :P Thanks for the tip for next time around, though! Thanks for the amazing review!**

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 **HI – I'm glad you liked their interactions! I was a little skeptical about the last chapter. It just didn't sit well with me, so I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for the review!**

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 **Anett -** **¡ Estoy muy contenta de que te haya gustado! Era difícil de escribir, pero todavía era divertido como siempre. Estoy seguro de que habrá muchos problemas en el futuro para estos dos grupos. Veremos cómo si su sobrecompartir se convierte en uno de ellos. ¡ Gracias por la revisión y la votación!**

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KKKKKK

Kaldur had not been prepared for the sight that greeted him when he and his team returned to the new headquarters.

There had been sounds of shouting and clattering from the kitchen that had sent Kaldur and his team hurtling towards the room, ready to stave off any potential fight. What they ran into was… not exactly a fight. From what Kaldur could see, it was an eating competition.

Almost everyone from Supersonic's team was present, Black Canary being the only one missing. Supersonic himself was leaning up against the far doorway, eyes sharp on the group, something halfway between a frown and pursed lips decorating his face. His head was tilted to the side, a hand pressing up against the ear of his cowl, probably listening to a comms device. He was the only one who wasn't directly involved in the competition.

Kaldur could see M'gann and Zatanna working furiously to cook or prepare various items, spinning around each other and cheering whenever they got a chance. Robin was sitting on one side of the table, furiously scribbling notes onto a small notepad lying in front of him. Across from Robin was Roy, Ballistic, and Changeling. They were shoveling food into their mouths, Ballistic and Changeling attempting to sabotage each other through by means of elbowing and spewing rude comments. Roy was just trying to keep up with their enormous appetites.

Behind Kaldur, Raquel's mouth was draped open, eyes wide and disbelieving. Conner blinked at them all for a long moment. Artemis looked properly scandalized. Jinx made a quiet barfing noise before turning around and leaving the room. Maser shrugged before going to help the girls by bringing the prepared items over to the trio of boys. Firehawk sighed and pinched her nose before settling near Robin and cheering for Changeling. Ballistic gave her an affronted look. Icicle looked delighted, "Is this an eating competition? Is it too late to join? Can I join? Do I get any of this food?"

"I'm not even participating, and I can tell it's too late to join," Firehawk sighed again.

"Still doesn't tell me if I get any of this food!" Icicle announced cheerfully. Raquel reluctantly chuckled behind them.

A loud cheer went up around the room as Roy stuffed an entire jumbo-sized muffin in his mouth. Kaldur felt vaguely ill watching him. He murmured, mainly to himself, "I do not understand how this happened."

Robin glanced up, grinning brightly at him and cackling, "We came back from the mission and decided we were hungry. Ballistic and Changeling were arguing over who could eat more in one sitting. Red Arrow decided he was actually the one that could eat the most. Miss Martian offered to help them test it. It all kind of devolved from there."

"Why am I not surprise?" Firehawk muttered, propping her chin on one hand.

Supersonic glanced up, doing a momentary doubletake, presumably at in the increase in people in the room. His head moved from side to side, probably checking over his people. Kaldur was glad that there were no injuries among his team on this first mission. He wanted to avoid injuries for as long as possible. Supersonic's gaze landed on Icicle and he tilted his head upwards, apparently beckoning Icicle over to him. Icicle responded instantly, moving to lean against the wall next to him. Kaldur moved over to stand next to them.

Both metahumans gave him a considering glance before looking back to each other. Icicle seemed to shrug before they both shifted slightly, moving to obviously include Kaldur in the conversation. Supersonic said, "Black Canary is with the Blood Pack – the meta group that the Light was trying to pick up, - and-,"

Icicle cut him off, "Wait, that's the group that tried to recruit Ballistic when they all became metas, right?"

Supersonic nodded and Kaldur had to ask, "Why would Ballistic not join them? I mean, why join your group, but not theirs?"

"He wanted to turn himself in to the Collection Agency," Supersonic answered simply, moving on before Kaldur could ask any more questions, "She's also with the Light metas that were sent to help test the Blood Pack. From what she's getting from both the Blood Pack and what Light metas are willing to talk about Light matters, the meta population of the Light has gotten even bigger than we thought. We're looking at upwards of seventy metas. I don't even know where they're grabbing them all. One of the ones we captured said that about thirty or forty of them are from Bialya. Queen Bee's apparently been hoarding the 'special ones' and training them for this. They just joined up. Then there were the twenty or thirty that we saw we were keeping track of that got pulled into the Light. Our spy said that about fifteen joined up at once, some sort of underground group in Australia that we hadn't heard of. I looked into them a little bit and it seems like they've been operational for about a year longer than we have. I don't really know much else about them yet. I'll try to do some more digging later on."

Kaldur interjected there, "Perhaps we could work together for that. Robin is an excellent information gatherer. I am sure that he would be able to find useful information for you."

"For us," Supersonic commented, a glimmer of a smile crossing his lips.

Kaldur nodded his head towards his co-leader, "Yes. For us."

Icicle pulled them back onto topic, "Any other new info?"

Supersonic wrinkled his nose slightly, "Not really. There's some grumblings about a new warden at Belle Reeve, but it's not from super reliable sources. If only they locked metas in there for crimes instead of bringing them to camps. You want to try to get some more info on that?"

The grimace that Icicle pulled was intense. He sighed angrily, "I hate dealing with Belle Reeve stuff."

He got a sympathetic look back from Supersonic, who patted his shoulder, "Yeah, I know. But you're our best connection."

"I know, I know. You don't have to tell me. I'll do it tomorrow or something. I am _not_ dealing with that tonight." Icicle sighed again, shoulders slumping. Supersonic patted him on the shoulder again. Kaldur took all of it in.

After a moment, he questioned curiously, "If I may ask, how are you getting information out of the metahumans that were captured?"

Supersonic glanced to him with surprise, "We're just asking. If they don't want to tell, we don't push. We work with what we can get from just asking. I mean, they're pretty willing to help us out. The Blood Pack even surrendered willingly."

"They did?" Kaldur asked. He had never heard of metahumans surrendering willingly before. He wanted to ask where they were, what methods were employed to keep them from trying to join the Light again. He had a feeling, however, that those were questions that the Circus would not be willing to answer.

Kaldur was sent another cursory glance before Supersonic shrugged, "We should probably run each of our mission reports by each other at some point tonight, talk stuff over. I'd say wait until tomorrow, but it's probably good to go over it while it's still fresh. I've got comments from each of my team members about the mission, so I won't need mine there for that discussion."

Nodding, Kaldur answered, "I received mission commentary from each member of my team during the flight back to headquarters. I, also, will not need my team members for this discussion."

"Awesome. Want to go do that now?" Supersonic asked. He didn't give Kaldur a chance to answer before he put a finger up, pressing his hand back against his comms, "What was that, BC?" He paused, listening to her speak before frowning, rubbing his forehead, "Yeah, okay. I'll come deal with that. I… yeah. No, that's – yeah. I'll send the team off to get settled in, talk to Aqualad about the missions, head over, deal with the problem, then bring the both of us back here. You good staying there for that long? The problem's not going to get that bad that quickly, right?" He listened for a moment longer before sighing, "Yep, no problem. See you in a little bit."

Icicle raise an eyebrow at his leader, "Were you planning to sleep at any point in that process?"

Supersonic pointed to himself, "Speedster, remember? King of cat naps!"

Icicle rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Try to sleep at some point. Please?"

"I always try. It's whether other people will let me," Wally snarked, expression lighter than Kaldur had seen it at any other point in their alliance. Icicle just rolled his eyes again and wandered over to where the eating competition was slowing down, Changeling's head lolling back against the chair as he let one hand drape over his stomach, a vaguely glazed expression over his face, defeat admitted.

Ballistic and Roy were definitely slowing down, food starting to pile in front of them as they stopped being able to eat much more. After about three more minutes of watching the two of them gorge themselves, they put down the sandwiches they were holding at the same time. Artemis asked archly, "Tie?"

"Nope!" Robin announced proudly, "That's what I've been keeping score for! Just because they stopped eating at the same time doesn't mean that they ate the same amount. It was really, really close, though. Red Arrow beat out Ballistic by three muffins." He was filled with entirely too much glee, an unholy expression of joy on his face.

Roy actually stood up, hands in the air victoriously while everyone clapped in the background. The clapping picked up with Ballistic's thunderous claps, cheers and hollers being tossed around as Roy preened, strutting around the room. A lot of the team members were smiling, laughter mixed with their clapping.

Glancing to the side, Kaldur was struck by the expression on Supersonic's face. He was painfully hopeful, expression broken in a way that Kaldur had rarely seen before. There was something infinitely strong in the broken steel window panes of Supersonic's eyes, something infinitely fragile in the shattered glass of the windows. Kaldur did not know what it was that Supersonic saw in the scene – it was certainly relieving to see that the two teams could act together as a team, but this was in a post-successful-mission high and not an accurate representation of what their alliance would look like in the future, - but Supersonic obviously believed it to be hopelessly beautiful. Kaldur wished he could know what Supersonic saw, wished he could _see_ it. At the same time, he was not certain that he would ever truly understand, even if Supersonic explained.

In the end, it was Icicle who broke the moment, clapping loudly and calling out, "Alright, alright. We've got stuff to do. I don't know what the Team usually does post-mission, but Circus guys? You know what to do. Check-up, then write up the official mission reports, then start unpacking. It's been a long day and we need some sleep." The Circus members grumbled among themselves, but they acquiesced, heading off in a direction vaguely reminiscent of the med-bay. Taking pity on them, M'gann and Conner moved to join the group, pointing them in the correct direction and offering to lead them there.

As they were leaving the room, Changeling called out behind him, "Hey leader! You coming?"

"Nah, I've got other stuff to do. You guys will probably be asleep by the time I get back, so goodnight!" Supersonic called back, the painful hope gone, the weariness returned, settling around his shoulders like a familiar jacket.

Ballistic spread his massive hands out, shaking his head towards Supersonic, "You're the only one on our team who got hurt and you're the only one who gets to skip medical. How's this fair?"

Icicle's eyes narrowed, and he whipped around, "You _what_?"

Supersonic rolled his eyes, "Speed healing? Anyone remember this integral part of my DNA? It was just a little concussion. I just needed a half an hour and then I was good to run all the metas and run everyone back here. It's fine!"

Icicle's hands flew up in the air, "Last time you need _an entire half of an hour_ to recover from a concussion, the doctor said that the concussion was bad enough to have been _cripplingly debilitating_ for _several weeks_ on a normal person!"

Jinx snorted, studying her nails, "Yeah, but he doesn't have a brain to damage, so it's not like we need to be worried."

Growling, Icicle stalked back over to Supersonic, stabbing him in the chest with his finger, "Wake me up when you get back. I'm checking you over in medical. Got it?"

"Got it," Supersonic replied dutifully. Icicle met his eyes for a long moment, the two of them passing on more information than Kaldur could ever rightly understand. Even the other metahumans seemed curious, glancing between them in obvious confusion. Icicle suddenly deflated, shaking his head and stalking back to the head of the group, following M'gann and Conner to the med bay.

Supersonic quirked his lips up at his retreating team, turning to Kaldur, "Let's get this show on the road, then." Kaldur nodded back.

He then nodded to the rest of the Team, signaling to them that it was alright and that he wished them a goodnight as well. He knew that Roy and Dick would most likely wait up for him to try to get information about the meeting, but Kaldur ignored that for the moment, focusing on his co-leader.

The two of them made their way to one of the empty conference rooms, sitting across from each other, hands folded, and stares locked. It was unnerving to be this close to someone, to run a _team_ with someone and not even know their name. Kaldur could not even tell the color of Supersonic's eyes through his tinted goggles. He felt laid bare compared to the secretive metahuman in front of him.

Supersonic spoke seriously, "You want to go first, or me?"

"I will go," Kaldur answered swiftly, bringing himself back into the moment. He went into detail about the mission, highlighting the problems he had observed, "The main issue I see with our teams fighting together is that the Circus members have… a different energy. Their abilities are brighter and louder and more obvious than a lot of the Team's weapons of choice. As a covert operations group, this is not only counterproductive, but also distracting. The Team members, myself included, were not prepared for such intense battle. There were several times where I made mistakes that I should not have due to a burst of color or light that I had not been prepared for."

"Okay, I get that. I know I was startled when Zatanna started up a miniature snowstorm. And, of course, there will always be things that will surprise us, from both sides. Not everyone lays out all of their abilities and tricks through training. I'm sure that most of us have tricks that we didn't even know we had. But, the usual abilities and their appearance can definitely be worked on. That's more of a repetition thing. And, unfortunately, a description of our powers thing. I'm sure that you guys don't want us knowing a lot about what you can do and how you can do it. I know I don't want you guys to know that about us. But… at some point, we're going to have to have that conversation," Supersonic said seriously, shoulders slumping slightly even at the thought.

Kaldur nodded back, just as seriously, "Speaking of training, we were initially told that we were not allowed to train with you without one of the adult superheroes supervising us. Red Arrow convinced the Justice League that he was a suitable adult supervisor, so we will be able to train. In the next week, the… - Robin dubbed them 'den mothers' – the den mothers will be arriving. As we told you, we typically have two den mothers. Red Tornado, who lives at headquarters with us, and Wonder Woman, who trains us. Due to the decreased lack of security in this location, the Justice League decided that it would be prudent to add Green Lantern as a semi-permanent den mother."

Supersonic's eyes narrowed at Kaldur, but he did not end up fighting the admission, instead just shrugging and responding, "I can see where they're coming from. So, three adult heroes who are around semi-regularly or regularly. I'll let the Circus members know. Although, at some point I should probably have a conversation with the League members who are in charge. Especially Batman or whoever's in charge of assigning you missions. I'll figure that out tomorrow. Was there anything else you noticed during the mission?"

Tilting his head to the side, Kaldur thought of the points he wanted to bring up, "There were two other things: I believe that the two of us should, at a later date, discuss Artemis's reluctance towards this alliance between us and then bring the conversation to her. It would be prudent to address the root of her issues. Additionally, Icicle spoke of the system you implemented to deal with arguments. I feel that such a system would be beneficial to this team as a whole. If we could find a way to implement that here, it would be very helpful."

"Okay, we can do that. Both of those things. The thing with Artemis is going to be touchy, though. You sure you want me there for that?" Supersonic asked, the corners of his lips tilting down.

Kaldur nodded, "Of course. We are co-leaders of this team and the team should start seeing us as such."

Supersonic watched him for a moment, eyes sharp behind the goggles, "Alright. We'll talk about that tomorrow, too."

After a moment's pause, Kaldur prompted, "And your own mission?"

Supersonic gave run-down of the mission he went on, pulling out all the important details before talking about the issues, "The first thing I noticed was that we must have different ways of coming up with plans or whatever. I'm guessing that you come up with the plan and just tell them the plan? Because that's not how I typically do it. We normally come up with a plan together. If we need a plan and don't have time to come up with it together, then I'll just tell them what to do, but that doesn't happen so often. Um, what else was it? Training, like you said. They worked well out in the field, but they were working around each other and not with each other. We could have dealt with that a whole lot faster if we'd been working with each other. Let's see… we really need to address the killing thing. I made the threat of it earlier today and it definitely made your guys squeamish, which is understandable. Then… the only other thing was apprehended criminals. At the end, I wanted to take the metas and leave the assassins for you guys and your team wasn't entirely certain about just letting us have the metas. They don't know where I'm bringing them or what I'm doing with them. At the same time, I won't let you guys take the metas. So, we just need to clear that up. And if that's something I need to address with the Justice League members, just let me know."

Taking a moment, Kaldur processed all of that information, running Supersonic's words through his head. All of that was understandable and genuine causes for concern. There were a lot of things that were not spoken about in the initial meeting. They would need to be addressed at later dates. For now, this was all they could do. Find problems when they occur and deal with them accordingly.

Hesitantly, carefully, Kaldur asked, "Where do you take the metahumans you capture?"

Supersonic's tired, considering expression shut down, leaving the blank, _dangerous_ countenance he'd worn when the Team had tried to push him about the spy, "I'm sorry, but that's a question I won't answer."

"The League members will ask," Kaldur warned carefully.

"I know," Supersonic sighed, dropping his shoulders briefly, "I know that they'll ask, but that's something they're not going to get."

Kaldur's voice was sad, sympathetic when he responded, "That is not always something you get to choose."

"But for now, I can choose it, and I will," Supersonic said resolutely. His eyes met Kaldur's through the tinted goggles for a brief moment, "You have more questions."

A sardonic smile crossed both their lips before Kaldur ducked his head, "Surely none that you would answer."

"Doesn't hurt to try," Supersonic shrugged.

Kaldur hesitated briefly before decided that it really would not hurt to try, "Will we ever learn of your identities? It will become trying to always have your masks on, to rarely be able to call each other by name."

Supersonic's lips twitched and he sighed again, "I guess that one's on more of a person to person basis. I didn't necessarily give them an order to keep their identities hidden. They chose to. I guess it's easier for you guys too. If you don't know who we are… I don't know. It's easier when you can't see what camp we left, what life we had before all this."

Kaldur wanted to ask if Supersonic ever thought about going back to the life he had before becoming a metahuman, wanted to ask how long he had been a metahuman, wanted to ask what his life was like before. He knew they would not be answered, so he asked a different question, "Was there anything you wished to ask of me?"

Nose wrinkled, Supersonic said, "Actually, I do have something. Well, it's less of a question and more of a favor?" Kaldur nodded for him to continue and Supersonic finished, "Jinx was wondering if Zatanna could teach her magic. Jinx is kind of like our resident magic-user or whatever, but she wants to know how to do magic like Zatanna does."

Kaldur blinked. He had not been expecting that request. After a pause, he said, "I am sure that can be arranged. I will speak to Zatanna about it in the morning. I will tell you as soon as I know."

"Awesome," Supersonic said, any remaining tension easing from his shoulders, "Anything else?"

"I do not believe so," Kaldur responded, watching as Supersonic visibly pulled himself together, getting ready to go deal with an entirely different host of problems. Kaldur smiled gently at him, "Good luck."

Supersonic's eyes flicked up to him, "Thanks." He nodded to Kaldur and then was gone, nothing but a few sparks and a blast of wind to show that he was even there.

 **Author's Note: Next chapter is the metahuman city! PLEASE READ! IMPORTANT! Okay, so I told you guys that this fic was inspired by the book series 'The Darkest Minds' by Alexandra Bracken, right? Well, the movie based off of the first book of that trilogy came out in theaters yesterday, so if you want to watch the movie (which is remarkably similar to the book; there are just a few parts from the book that didn't make it into the movie) to get a better understanding of where I'm coming from with my inspiration, I highly recommend it. I just watched it today and loved it. Jinx won with 123 votes! Cameron was close with 107. Four more reviews for another chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: Okay, here we go. Glad I could get a chapter out before the mess that is college begins. Thank you to all of you who've been giving me well wishes and encouragements for college! That means a lot! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Adelina – Aw, I'm glad you liked my version of Wally! He's my favorite character in the YJ show, so it means a lot that you think I write him well! There will definitely be more good Artemis moments in the future. I love her character too and I know that it's a little frustrating that she's being the way she is. She'll without a doubt become more likeable as it goes. Thanks for the wonderful review!**

 **HI – Glad you're happy with how the voting turned out! Thanks for the review!**

 **Guest – Glad you liked it! Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

That had gone better than expected, Wally thought to himself as he ran towards the meta city. He'd expected a flurry of problems, accusations leveled at his teammates, etc. He hadn't been expecting a calm, clear, concise description of what had occurred and what Aqualad thought should be done about. He certainly wasn't complaining, but… well, it was nice to know that some teenagers had some level of maturity. Then again, Aqualad was an aide or helper or partner or whatever to Aquaman, who was a king. In the end, it really wasn't all that surprising that he was mature beyond his years and practiced in the art of communication.

Just wait until he found out how immature Wally could be. It didn't come out often, but Wally could be just as immature as the next teenage boy. At the moment, he was too exhausted, stressed, and high strung to even attempt to be immature. All of the research he'd been doing into the Light mixed with the work he'd been putting into setting up this alliance made it pretty hard for him to have the energy for anything that wasn't necessary. Plus, he wasn't anywhere near comfortable with the Team and wouldn't try anything until he'd gotten to know them better, if he ever got to that point.

Wally shook his head, altering his course a little bit. He'd angled a little bit to the wrong side while thinking and was now a little bit off course. That was honestly more of a struggle than it should have been. Also, like, a serious problem. People didn't seem to realize how far you could get off course by shifting just a couple of degrees when you were traveling as fast and as far as he was. From what he'd read and learned from Harold, airplanes were the same way. He didn't know how true that was, but Harold was something of an airplane fanatic, so he'd take the kid's word for it.

He really needed to stop getting distracted.

Focusing again, Wally caught himself and corrected his path. Luckily, he hadn't gotten too far out. He really was rather anxious to get to the city. The problem that Dinah had found wasn't irreparable, but it wasn't the best thing to have happened either. It might also take longer than Wally would have liked to deal with. If things were as bad as Dinah said, then there was a good chance that he'd have to run Dinah back to the new headquarters (which was seriously inconvenient; they couldn't have picked a more centrally located city? Now Wally had to run from Canada to Louisiana every time he wanted to check up on the city) and spend his own night at the city.

The problem was, in the end, relatively simple (the solution, not so much). A stranger had found their way into the city. Simple problem: random person goes where they're not supposed to. Difficult solution: how did they find the city? Were they looking for it? Metahuman or normal human? Or something else? Were they working for the Light? Was Wally's spy compromised? Who were they working for? Where are they from? Did they have abilities?

The person had apparently allowed themselves to be captured quietly and without any sort of fanfare, no fighting back and no fighting words. The only resistance they'd shown was refusing to speak and refusing to receive the blood test that would determine whether they were meta or human.

It was strange. And coming from the speedster founder of a metahuman safe haven city protected by technology given to them by super-intelligent gorillas, that was saying something.

Once Wally reached the town, it wasn't all that hard to find the rehabilitation center (also known as the prison, but they tried not to call it that when they could avoid it). It was a relatively large building with a lot of really bright and large signs proclaiming that it was an ability dead-zone. A lot of people got understandably touchy when their powers dropped off, so they were all really good about letting people know where the dead-zones were.

Wally zipped up to the gate, forced to a normal human walk about five feet away. The guard nodded to him, pulling up the biometrics scan and password screen. For all that powers were nullified there, Wally had no doubt that some government somewhere had the ability to mimic a person's appearance with the aid of technology. He was not going to take that risk with a bunch of metas who were trying to get themselves on the straight and narrow, who were trying to start over in a place where they could finally just be.

After Wally was verified, he kept walking through the courtyard, nodding to people as he passed them. He received nods and some smiles in return. He wasn't the leader of the city, not really. He was kind of a like the last line of defense? Basically, he signed off on everything and made the decision himself when the local government couldn't agree on it. Someone had told him once what kind of government that was, but he hadn't paid enough attention and it wasn't like he'd gotten that far in school. And government wasn't exactly a thrilling topic to him, either. That was more of Cameron's area. He enjoyed watching political news far too much in Wally's opinion.

He really needed to get his head on straight. Wally's thoughts were going off the rail, spiraling every which way. Probably a mix of stress, tiredness, and lingering traces of a concussion. Yeah, that probably made sense. Maybe a healthy dose of shocked horror at the amount of food those three had managed to inhale after their mission.

Wally pulled to a stop in front of a fortified door. He repeated his biometric scan and password check (with a different password for inside the building; just in case) and entered the room. Dinah nodded to him, towering behind what seemed to be a teenager, maybe young adult.

He was certainly stacked like an adult would be. Wally couldn't imagine a kid getting those muscles through regular means.

The intruder was kind of thuggish in appearance. His ash blonde hair was short on the sides, long on top, a thin stripe of skin splitting the two lengths. The sleeves of his white, tattered shirt were cut off, thin red overall straps pulled on purely for appearance's sake. There was a chain looped into a big lock hung around the intruder's neck. His fingerless gloves and studded, black pants only added to his obvious 'bad-boy' vibe. Add on the giant muscles and the sneering sort of scowl, and Wally was effectively intimidated. He would not want to go against that in a fight.

In the end, it was the time Wally spent observing the intruder's overall image and not the man's body language that would cost him. That, and slight arrogance on the part of metahumans.

See, metahumans understood that humans were powerful in their own right. They had been humans at one point, were basically the same as humans. Despite that, their restraints for humans were quite lacking. Metahuman restraints and counteractive mechanisms? Perfect. They had predictions within predictions. Any possible mishap including the abilities of the metahumans that they had seen or heard of were prepared for. They had safety protocols for things that most people wouldn't even believe possible. When it came to safety precautions for humans or metas with their powers dampened? Not so much. Their handcuffs were strong, electrical, and supposedly pick-proof, but that was about the extent of their security.

Still, though, that did not mean that a human should be able to _break the cuffs_ by _flexing his arms and legs_. Wally gaped at the man – the metahuman; he had to be with that much raw strength, no human could do _that_ – who had just crushed the only restraints locking him in. The man's first action was to lunge at Wally.

Wally couldn't evade. He could see the punch coming towards him, muscles rippling almost in slow motion, intense concentration on the man's face, a few stray bits of tech flinging themselves from the overly thick wrist swinging itself towards Wally's face. He saw the punch, knew every step he could take to avoid it, knew exactly what to do, when to move, how to move. His body just wasn't fast enough.

For some reason that Wally had never been able to explain, the power dampeners had never been able to slow down his brain. There was no rhyme or reason to it, but Wally didn't usually mind; it gave him an edge in interrogations or battles of wits in the rehabilitation center. This, however, was a moment when he definitely minded. His mind picked apart every movement, every counter, and screamed at his body to _move_ , to _duck_ , to _dodge_. And his body just… couldn't. It wasn't fast enough. He wasn't fast enough.

The fist connected to his nose in a truly fantastic fashion. Wally could hear the echoing snap even as his body twirled around with the fist, crashing to the ground. Luckily, he'd been able to angle himself just the slightest in that brief moment he'd watched the fist coming towards him. If Wally hadn't moved his head slightly to the side, the stranger would have broken his nose and shoved the shards up into his brain.

That was an assassination attempt.

Wally gasped through the blood coating his throat and dripping down onto the floor, gasped through the pain and black spots that clouded every aspect of his sight. He coughed and scooted back as fast as he could. Not fast enough – never fast enough.

The man jumped, leapt over the distance Wally had desperately traversed, moved over the space as if there was no space there. He landed directly on Wally's midsection, ribs crunching underneath his heavy combat boots. Wally's desperate coughs cut off with a high whine as the broken ribs definitely hit something they weren't supposed to hit.

There was no chance to gain his bearings (not that he thought he could while surrounded by so much pain, blood still clogging his throat and ribs tightened like rope around his lungs) before the stranger bent down, gripping Wally around the throat and throwing him against the wall. The man was there an instant later, having jumped over the distance again, grabbing Wally's throat and squeezing. There was an inhuman glee in the man's eyes as he slowly squeezed Wally's throat, cutting off any slight chance at Wally breathing. Every jagged attempt at air sent sharp pains from both his nose and his midsection.

Some vague part of his mind was noting the rest of the room. They had leapt into action after the first blow, but their actions were evidently useless. He could see the guards with tranquilizer darts that bounced harmlessly off the stranger's skin. He could see Dinah flinging herself at the enemy, complex and powerful moves useless against hard muscle and preternatural invulnerability.

The sights of the others fighting for him faded away, sharp lines blurring and bright colors dulling. Wally's hands scrabbled for purchase, trying to find something, _anything_ to escape this situation. He found nothing.

What a stupid way to die, he thought to himself. Some random douchebag gets him right when he finally got an alliance and had seen something that actually gave him hope for a future of acceptance? Not fair.

Not that anything in Wally's life had been fair. He really should have been used to it. That didn't make it easier to accept the fact that he was dying a lame death miles away from the majority of his team.

No. No! This was not the way he was going to go. This was not how it worked. Sure, life hadn't been that fair to Wally, but he was _done_ letting life do what it wanted to him. There was no such thing as destiny, or fate, or some deity who ruled over everything and chose what happened to him. He'd taken his life back and it was _his_ to decide what to do with. And if he decided that he wasn't going to die in a prison, being choked by a stranger, then he _wasn't_.

Determination doubled, Wally started bucking, kicking out and looking for a week spot (any weak spot, _anything_ he could use). The man reacted with a cruel smile and an unfortunately placed kick. Wally's fingers twitched, and a piteous hiss came out in lieu of screaming when he felt his knee crack and bend back with the force of the kick. It seemed like the only thing his determination had gotten him was a broken leg and a darkly amused killer.

But, no. That wasn't it. The man had dropped a little of his weight to kick Wally and had overcompensated when he pulled back in. He was closer now than he had been before. That meant maybe (hopefully) Wally was close enough to…

Wally's hand pushed down, fingers laying just _so_ , and the man dropped like a rock. Gotta love pressure points.

Unfortunately, the man dropping like a rock lead to Wally also being dropped like a rock. Directly onto his broken leg. He then fell onto his elbow before his strength gave out and his ribs smashed onto the elbow, his funny bone smarting against the tiled ground. His head smacked into the ground, sending flares of agony from his neck and nose (and everywhere else, but those were the momentary focal points).

Wally attempted harsh breaths, throat closed around his attempts to breath. There was still blood rushing down his nose and getting stuck in his throat, clumped and disgusting. Wally gagged on it, trying to get his bearings back through the haze of pain and adrenaline and confusion.

Soft, gentle hands pulled him back into himself. Dinah was murmuring over him, "It's okay, Wally. We've got you. It's okay. I'm going to pick you up and get you out of the dead-zone. Then we'll bring you to a hospital. They'll fix whatever the usual healing doesn't."

Gasping, Wally interrupted her panicked murmuring, voice scratchy and cutting out and not entirely there, "Intruder – new cuffs – don't let him – hurt – people."

Dinah snapped at someone behind her, "Get the promethium cuffs. I don't know what we'll cuff him to since he'd probably be able to break that too but try to figure something out. Everyone see the pressure point that Wally hit? Aim for that if he wakes up too soon. Try to figure out what happened."

Thank goodness for King Solovar's willingness to part with rare tech and precious metals for the strange group of metahumans who had come to him for aid. Without the promethium from Solovar, Wally could think of a few times where they would have been in serious trouble.

Wally felt himself fading, the world going back to the blurring and dulling it had been doing when the intruder had been choking the life out of Wally. He was jerked back into the moment when Dinah picked him up. It was obvious that she was warring between being careful so as to not permanently damage him before getting him out or being quick and trusting that his speed healing could deal with any added injuries.

As she flat out ran out of the prison, Wally knew that she had taken the latter approach. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that, honestly.

Either way, it was a moment of blessed relief when they stepped out of the dead-zone (Dinah still at a run headed towards the city's hospital) and Wally's powers came back online. The speed force racing through his veins was a welcome feeling, something like an old friend coming home. Wally's hands shook as the force zinged through his body, zipping up over his wounds and through his blood stream.

His very molecules shook as they sped up and his healing kicked in, skin doing it's best to knit itself back together, throat trying to re-inflate itself. Wally gasped desperately as air finally found its way back into his lungs, ribs protesting the action, but ignored in favor of blessed, pure air.

He coughed on it, choking on the very air that was saving him, body confused and cautious and in so much pain. Blinking back the water in his eyes, Wally leaned his head back against Dinah and let her run him to the hospital.

Thankfully, at this time of night, there weren't that many people still out and about to witness his horrid state. Unfortunately, the town was small and somewhat infatuated with it's teenaged somewhat-leader, which meant that news of his injury (and probably the source and exact time down to the seconds) would be spread through the city by early morning at the latest. Hopefully he'd be gone by then and wouldn't have to deal with too much coddling.

Wally hadn't even realized that the two of them had made it to the hospital until he was being gently lowered into a soft-feeling hospital bed. The doctor and nurse that came over both tutted at him, brusquely setting him into a good position on the bed and starting to check him over.

Still croaking (he wasn't sure if even a good night's sleep would erase the bruises from his throat or the break in his leg), Wally said, "Gotta get back to rehab center… Prisoner I need to talk to… right away."

The doctor's lips pursed, but she didn't bother arguing. Most people had learned by now that the Circus's main attack team had made escaping from medical attention somewhat of a competition. They were all notorious for their dislike of doctor's offices or medical wards.

As requested, the doctor's work was quick and precise. She floated bandages and wash clothes over Wally, performing multiple actions at once. She had to reset his nose, breaking it again and trying to lay it flat. The bone was wacked, though, curved up in a weird spot. Scowling, the doctor made Wally swear that he'd come back once he was done talking with the prisoner.

Finally, though, he was ready to leave. With, of course, the condition that he was either carried to the rehabilitation center or wheeled over. Sighing (or, at least, attempting to), Wally had agreed to the wheelchair, but urged Dinah to push it _really quickly_. She rolled her eyes, but capitulated. Wally figured that she was just as curious about the intruder as he was.

In that vein, it didn't take them long to get back to the rehabilitation center. They went through the usual biometric scans and password checks until, finally, they were in a new room, promethium cuffs securing the intruder's arms and legs to each other, promethium chains wrapped tightly around his torso.

Thankfully, the man was awake and struggling against his bonds, so they wouldn't have to wait for him to wake up to start the interrogation.

One of the guards stepped over to Wally, young face careful and concerned. She'd been on a metahuman hunting force, angry at the world and angry at metas for killing her mother, for drawing her mother into the world of superheroes in the first place. It wasn't until a mandatory agency wide test revealed her to be one of the metahumans she hated that she finally started to see. She'd ran before anyone could get her, wandering around on her own before she'd been found by the Circus. Her name was Cameron Chase and her natural ability to negate the abilities of metahumans was incredibly useful inside a metahuman rehabilitation center. She gave him a small smile, "We've secured him as well as we could. I got a picture of him and brought it over to the other new metas you've brought it. One of the ones from the Light recognized him. Said his name was Tommy Terror, one of the so-called 'Terror Twins.' Super strength, invulnerability, and super leap? Those are the powers they knew of. He works for the Light. That was all they knew."

Wally swallowed harshly, waited for the burst of pain that accompanied the movement to die before asking, "Said anything?"

Chase winced at the gravel in Wally's voice, "He said a lot about how he was going to kill us and how he'd make us sorry. Never mentioned someone coming to rescue him."

"You said he was one of the Terror Twins, right?" Dinah asked, eyes narrowing, hand on her hip, head tilted to the side.

Chase nodded, "Yeah. You heard of them?"

"No," Dinah shook her head, "But I'm just a little curious. If I had a twin, I'd probably be boasting that my twin was going to come after me. Siblings, especially ones that work in teams, are notoriously protective of each other. And if they're called the Terror Twins, then I can assume that the twin has at least some powers, if not the same ones. Tommy should be yelling about how we'll be sorry when his twin shows up. He shouldn't be relying only on himself."

Wally's eyes widened in recognition of what Dinah was trying to say. He rolled himself into the room, ignoring the yelps of the two women behind him as they tried to get him to stop. Tommy sneered when he saw Wally, eyes going cold and hard. Wally, uncaring that it was the man in front of him that had damaged his voice to the point that he could barely speak, choked out, "Who has your – twin?"

Tommy _snarled_ , whole body twitching against the restraints, muscles popping and straining against the promethium. Wally eyes the restraints warily, not entirely ready to trust cuffs again. When Tommy's anger produced no results, he slumped in his restraints, snarl still etched into his face, adding weight to his voice, "This's got _nothing_ to do with li'l sis. You leave her out of this!"

It was the first time Wally had heard Tommy speak, and his voice was just as intimidating as the rest of them. He had a thick southern drawl and a low voice, lowered further by frustration and anger.

Expression loosening a little bit, Wally said calmly (painfully for him), "We can – help you. If the Light has – your sister, we can help – get her back and keep – both of you safe." Each pause was punctuated by a wince and a little gasp of breath as his throat failed him. It was well and truly crushed, having only been given a brief period of time to heal at his natural rate.

Tommy's scowl didn't lessen, "You can't do _nothing_! _I'll_ protect li'l sis! And if that means I've gotta kill you, then I'm gonna kill you!"

"I'd really rather you – didn't," Wally winced, hand involuntarily rising to his throat. After a second where Tommy just continued to stare at him with burning eyes, Wally continued, "We'll come back to – that. How – how did you use your powers inside of – a nullifier zone?"

Tommy sneered, "How do you think? The Light is smarter than you are! You think they can't work past this? They've promised a safe haven to metas, a new world where we actually matter! That means they work to make sure nothing can hurt us again! No Collection Agent is going to collar me and put me back into one of them camps! Never again! I'm a higher _form_ of metahuman, one that won't be taken down by some useless _human_!"

Wally's expression tightened, "You are – aware that the Light has at least – one human on their high council. A human who, in the – end, you take order from."

Tommy's expression crumpled into even further anger and he started straining against the bonds again, pulling and yanking and cutting into his own skin with the chains. Wally wheeled quickly out of the room, signaling for Chase to lock off the room and fill it with a mild sleeping gas. Just so he wouldn't hurt himself while he was in there. He might have tried to kill Wally, but he didn't want to see him get hurt.

Dinah was shaking her head in a strange mix of wonderment and horror, "A way to get past inhibitor collars and ability dead-zones. That's… that's _crazy_. I can't even begin to imagine how they do that."

Wally swallowed, "The other Light metas? Were – were they… given the same thing?" His voice was giving out on him, exacerbated by the talking.

Chase frowned, "Not from what I could tell. It seemed like a few of them attempted to use their powers in here and weren't able to. Obviously, there's no way to tell whether they're tricking us or not. Some of them seemed genuinely helpful and willing to work with us, though. I don't know. We'll check it out, see what we can do. I'll get some people to ask around and find out if any of the new metas have even _heard_ of this procedure, let alone been subjected to it."

"Good – work, Chase. Keep me – updated." Wally responded, unlocking the wheel on the bottom of the wheelchair and starting to wheel himself away.

Chase smiled at him as he passed her to get to the door, "No problem, Wally. Hope you get better." He treated her to a nod and an almost smile before Dinah took over the wheelchair and started wheeling him out of the facility.

Wally got that same rush of relief when his powers came back online. He sunk into the chair, leaning his head back. Dinah, incredibly gently, ruffled his hair, asking, "What's our next step? After the doctor, of course."

"Grab a – teleporter. Have them bring – bring us to the safe house in – Louisiana. I'll – run us home from – there," Wally gasped out, a headache starting to throb in time to the rest of his injuries. He resisted the urge to groan.

Wally could tell from the way Dinah's hands tightened around the handles of the wheelchair that she wasn't pleased with that plan of action, but she didn't say anything, so Wally didn't either. He didn't see what the big problem was. He'd be able to manage that little bit of a distance on a broken leg. Honestly. She was such a mother hen.

The doctor visit was, thankfully, short. The doctor pursed her lips and tutted at him and did everything she could to make him stay longer, but there really wasn't much he could do. An IV drip and rest in the hospital could both be supplemented at the headquarters where his team was, and medicine didn't work on him. She reluctantly allowed him to go, frown weighing down her features as the teleporter walked into the room, carefully grabbing Wally and Dinah, flashing them over to the Louisiana safe house.

Wally thanked the teleporter, waiting until he was already back in the city before he tried to move again. Gingerly, Wally stood himself up on one leg, one arm out for balance. He settled his other leg on the floor, making sure that it could hold his weight. Carefully, Wally walked around the room a little bit, testing out the strength of the leg. Yeah, he could do this.

Dinah was watching him worriedly, "We could just sleep here for the night and then head back in the morning."

"Cam told me to wake him up when I got back, which translates to he's going to stay awake all night waiting for me to get back. I don't want him to go without sleep. And you know I sleep better when I'm with the group," Wally reminded her.

She scowled, "Yes, I know all that. I just…" She steeled herself for a moment before finally admitting, "I was so worried when he grabbed you and there was nothing we could do to stop him. The doctor said that if I hadn't gotten you to a spot where you could self-heal like you do, you would have died."

Wally frowned, reaching out a hand to lightly touch Dinah's arm, "I know, and it means a lot that you were worried. I'm all good now. And you know that Cameron will mother hen me when we get back to the new HQ. It'll be fine!"

Dinah sighed, but didn't say anything in return. Instead, she looped her arms gingerly around Wally's neck, settling them lower than usual, almost around his shoulders. He pressed one arm against her back and the other under her knees, lifting and tilting a little bit at the same time so she swung up into his arms.

"Ready?" He asked her. Dinah nodded, tucking her face in towards her chest. She didn't dislike running with him, she just got a little dizzy if she watched everything passing by in a massive blur of color.

That was okay. Wally could look at the world for her. It was beautiful to him, when he ran. It was a world that only he could see.

It took him longer than he'd wanted to get back to the new headquarters, but that was alright. Better than tripping at several hundred miles per hour and dropping both of them. That was not a fun experience and not one that Wally ever planned on doing again.

They entered the building nearly silently, the door a whisper behind them, the alarms disarmed with quick password checks and biometric scans. The only loud noise they made was when Dinah dropped down from Wally's arms and onto the floor. And that noise was quite loud.

Dinah and Wally winced, giving each other apologetic grimaces as four sets of feet came pounding towards them. From one side (the one Wally vaguely recognized as being the living room area), Cameron flung himself around the corner, stopping as soon as he caught sight of Wally and Dinah. From the other side (the kitchen), Aqualad, Robin, and Red Arrow performed a similar action, their favored weapons clutched in their tight grips.

For a second, everyone relaxed, shoulders falling as they realized that there weren't any real threats around. It was then that Wally's appearance set in.

Cameron made an angry hissing sound, trying to keep his voice down as he cursed, lifting his hand like he wanted to smash it into a wall, "What _happened_?"

Wally was tempted to give his brightest attempt at a smile to Cameron, just to screw with him, but he figured that he'd had enough choking for one day. Instead, he sent Cameron a placating glance and answered quietly, "The trouble that Black Canary found was, uh, not very pleased to see me."

Cameron spread his hands out, shaking his head, obviously still confused. He turned to Dinah for translation. She gave a put-upon sigh, "Assassination attempt."

Cameron threw his hands in the air, spinning around and cursing to himself again. Robin choked out, "A _what_?"

Wally rolled his eyes, "She's being overly dramatic. I'm not important - enough for it to be considered - an assassination attempt. I believe the Light was just trying to take out the competition since - since I've stole so many of their metas - at this point."

"The _Light_ did this? The Light was _there_?" Cameron almost screeched, trying his best to keep his voice down as he made a strangled, wordless sound of frustration.

Red Arrow side-eyed Cameron worriedly, but then turned to Wally, "I'm sorry, where was it that the Light was at? And what is this about an assassination attempt?"

Wally scrunched his nose, trying to think of the best way to explain this without giving too much away, "The Circus…" He had to break off to cough, pretty much everything hurting at the jarring motion. Dinah led him to a chair and he sank down into it gratefully. The rest of the gathered people sat around him. He continued, "The Circus has a place where we put – bad metas. The ones who we try to rehabilitate. A strange man found the place. He – he didn't resist when they arrested him, but he refused the blood test to show if he was a human or – a meta. The place that – holds the bad metas has a – power canceling factor. It's an ability dead-zone. So we put – him in some cuffs and called it good. I was brought in and, obviously, my powers – didn't work. His, however, did. He broke my nose, then my ribs. Then he started crushing my throat. Then he broke my leg. Then I hit – a pressure point and knocked him out. He seemed to be – impervious to everything else. His name's Tommy – Terror and he's got something in him that prevents power – nullifiers from working. Even… even that one meta who's powers are negating other people's powers didn't work." Wally explained, voice scratchy and throat incredibly sore when he was done.

Cameron scooted closer, ice cold fingers brushing against the bruising around Wally's throat, "And your speed healing hasn't kicked in, yet?"

"It hasn't had much time to. Besides, you know that going into – power dead-zones messes with my speed healing for a little bit afterwards. Nothing some food and some sleep won't – fix." Wally answered, holding as still as he could for Cameron, the icy fingers feeling good against his bruised skin.

Aqualad was frowning, "Tommy Terror? Of the Terror Twins?" Wally nodded to him and Aqualad's frown furthered, "We apprehended the Terror Twins a brief time ago. They were working with two other people who we used to send Superboy and Miss Martian undercover as to Belle Reeve. The last we had heard, they were being sent to a nearby camp. I was not aware that they had escaped."

"It's all good. From what I've gathered, the Light has – the twin somewhere. Don't know where. They're using that twin to get Tommy to do stuff. I just – hope that they won't hurt the twin because Tommy couldn't kill me. And we can't just – send Tommy back. We'll see if we can get his – help. Maybe we can rescue him and his twin." Wally mused, eyes slipping shut slightly as he leaned his head back.

Robin spoke next, "Wait, did you run here from wherever you were on a broken leg carrying Black Canary?"

It was Dinah who answered, "No, we had a teleporter bring us to a safe house we have in Louisiana. He ran us from the safehouse to here."

"And there's no chance that this teleporter guessed that the alliance was hiding out here?" Robin asked, obviously alarmed.

"That's assuming that the teleporter knows that we're working together. We don't share everything we do with the people that we rescue," Wally explained, "No one but the main team knows that we're even teaming up."

There was a shocked note in Robin's responding, "Oh…"

Cameron snorted, but didn't say anything, instead standing up and walking off. Wally opened one eye and walked him leave. He asked the room in general, "Think I finally made him angry enough to forget about doing medical?"

"Not a chance, douchebag," Cameron responded, plopping down next to Wally, obviously taking vindictive glee in watching how the undulations of the couch caused Wally pain. Cameron handed him a huge tubberware container, "Your dinner. Since you didn't eat after the mission and then went running around and trying to heal yourself. That's why you're taking so long to heal! You haven't eaten anything since before the mission began."

"I ate a couple protein bars while I was waiting for my concussion to go away!" Wally protested.

Cameron threw his arms into the air, "It's like talking to a brick wall!"

"What's going on?" A new voice asked, a cautious blonde head peaking around a corner before Artemis came out, dressed in a bathrobe, flannel pajamas, and her mask, bow held carefully in her grip.

Aqualad's eyes flicked calmly to her, "I am sorry, Artemis. We did not mean to wake anyone. I had thought that you were going home tonight."

Artemis shook her head, eyes narrowing as she traced over each person, "Miss Martian wanted a girl's sleepover to help her settle into her new… room…" Her mouth fell open when her eyes reached Wally, "What happened to _you_?"

"Assassination attempt," Dinah and Red Arrow deadpanned at the same time, sending each other startled looks.

Cameron belatedly followed it up with, "Someone tried to kill Supersonic."

Wally interjected, "It really wasn't that big of a deal."

Robin frowned, "You said you almost got your throat crushed."

"It's all good," Wally responded, waving a hand, trying to get the attention off of him.

Artemis's voice was soft, calculating when she murmured, "I'm sorry I ever asked." Cameron beamed at her and she scowled at him, disgust lining the edges of her expression. Cameron didn't react, turning instead back to Wally and urging him to eat more of the food. Wally rolled his eyes but didn't fight it.

After another moment of watching them, Artemis muttered something to herself and left the room, presumably going back to the sleepover she'd been in the middle of. After a long moment, Red Arrow said lowly, "The way I look at it, you guys have a problem. Someone knew about your little rehabilitation prison place. You might want to check out your spy and see if they're really as clean as they seem."

Wally's expression tightened with instinctual anger, the urge to tell these people off for even trying to insinuate that his spy had betrayed him, that one of his precious Circus members had betrayed them all. He caught his anger before he could let it out, though, determined to keep calm. In the end, he couldn't really calm the severe expression on his face, but his voice was at least calmer than it would have been otherwise, "It's not our spy. We'll check the others. We do some pretty intense checks and run a low level EMP over everyone we bring in so there shouldn't be any trackers. But we'll check for that. I'll finish eating and then I'll sleep for a couple hours, then I'll go back to the rehabilitation center and check that out." Cameron was giving him a look that said that he wanted Wally to eat more and sleep more, but Wally didn't care. He had stuff to do.

In the end, that was all that was said that night.

 **Author's Note: Once again, this is a chapter to make up for the weekend one. Hopefully once I get settled into college, I can get a more regular update schedule. We'll see! I'm going to ask for six more reviews for another chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: I'm all moved into college! Thanks for all the well-wishes! This is actually back on normal updating track. Yay! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Anett – Me alegra que te guste la historia! Eso significa mucho. Y, si, la bromance entre Wally y Cameron es una de mis partes favoritas de la historia. Gracias por la revision y por los Buenos deseos sobre la Universidad. Estooy emocionado por eso!**

 **Hi – Haha, I feel like a lot of people feel bad for Wally in a lot of my stories. I can't help it that I like seeing my favorite characters get hurt! Thanks for the review as always!**

 **Guest – I will always keep writing! Thanks for the wonderful review!**

 **Adelina – I'm glad you liked that scene. I wasn't sure about it, honestly. I'll definitely write more from Aqualad's POV now that I'm starting to get a hang of writing him (kind of… sort of…). Thanks for the amazing review!**

 **Guest – I'll probably get around to it someday. You know, I might write a soulmate AU about it. Hm… I could see where that would be interesting. Anyways, thanks for the asterous review!**

KKKKKK

Kaldur watched Icicle send Supersonic off, the rest of the Circus and Team fanned out behind them, a mix of curious and concerned.

Icicle was scowling at Supersonic, "You shouldn't go back alone. I know you want to leave me here as second in command, but there are plenty of members on this team. Bring _someone_ with."

"My leg's a little sore still. Not bad enough to not run on it! It would just be better if I didn't carry someone," Supersonic tried to defend.

Icicle was having none of it, scowling fiercely, "Then bring Changeling. He won't be heavy at all if he changes into a mouse or whatever."

Rolling his eyes, Supersonic sighed, the sound still a little scraped through his throat, "You guys need to get to know the rest of your new team. Aqualad said that he'd get some training in today, work on getting all of you used to seeing the other ones fighting. We've got Tommy Terror sedated and in something that can hold him. There's no danger." His voice was firm and determined, unrelenting on this issue.

"If there's no danger, then there's no issue with bringing Changeling!" Icicle argued. Changeling himself was staring between the two of them with big, wide eyes, trying to figure out where he should jump in.

Supersonic threw his hands in the air, "Icicle. I've got this."

Icicle let out a breath through his teeth, rubbing ineffectually at his forehead, "Okay, _fine_."

"I was never looking for permission," Supersonic threw back, something of a challenge in his voice, an amused lilt that made him seem his age for once. Icicle didn't respond, just rolling his eyes and pushing at Supersonic's shoulder, urging him to get going. There was a camaraderie in the action, an easy-going acceptance that seemed so out of place for the two typically suspicious and wary boys.

In a way, it was startling to Kaldur. Metahumans were thought of as things to be feared or pitied, things that needed help. And Kaldur could see a lot of that within the Circus. Each of these metahumans were obviously powerful, capable of feats beyond Kaldur's imagination. It was incredible – and terrifying. They used those powers partially for good, yes, but they also rarely aided anyone but their own kind and they used their abilities to kill, to gain information. There was a lot in the metahumans, however, to pity. They were all infinitely scarred in some way. Whether it was the way they were hunted by the Collection Agency or their time fighting other metahumans with nothing but their own built up resources and limited knowledge that caused that obvious trauma and suspiciousness, Kaldur doubted he would ever know. But it was obvious that they were all hurt and scared. How could they not be? Kaldur knew that he would be frightened if such powers were placed on him arbitrarily with no rhyme, reason, or explanation.

And yet, fear and pity were not the only feelings that these metahumans inspired. There was a healthy portion of awe; they were infinitely powerful and incredibly well-trained. One of the biggest problems with metahumans were the fact that they were very difficult to train. Each one's powers were different, a new ability each time and there was no one out there who knew how the powers worked, knew the ins and outs in order to train them. Atlanteans, Amazons, aliens, magicians all had centuries or more of traditions and techniques to train their children, to show them how to use their powers, how to control them and work with them. Metahumans did not have that.

Still, though, the Circus acted as a formulated group, each person's powers obviously well-known to the rest of the group, each person commanding a control over their abilities that was thought to be unknown. Kaldur knew that the Circus's level of control meant hours upon long hours of struggling through each nuance of their powers, trying and trying again to control the strange powers that were thrust upon them. They had to have trained themselves, figured everything out themselves. That was awe-inspiring.

Beyond awe, there was also a feeling of connectivity, of camaraderie. These Circus members were heroes, too. Maybe they were rougher around the edges (willing to sacrifice a life to achieve their goals was a little more than rough, but they seemed willing to abstain from killing until they have discussed it with the Team) and maybe their powers were strange, but they were heroes too. They had the same weary set of someone who knew the horrors the world could throw at you, but who continued to fight for that world regardless. They had the same light in their eyes that said that they enjoyed the fight, found the thrill in each battle, knew the consequences of losing. It was a contradiction and a puzzle and Kaldur would be fascinated by it if he did not have to focus so intently on the Light.

Kaldur was broken from his thoughts by the sound of Supersonic speeding out of the room, a strange mixture of the whoosh of displaced air and the crackle of static electricity. Roy was watching the spot Supersonic had disappeared from with a disgruntled expression, "I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

Surprisingly, it was Jinx who answered, "Not really sure any of us will."

Black Canary nodded along, a small smirk on her face, "I'll vouch for that."

"So, what's the plan for today?" Raquel interrupted, rubbing her hands together and smiling at Kaldur.

He inclined his head to her, "Today, we will start training. We will start by grouping member of each team against each other to gain a better understanding of each person's hand to hand combat skills. Do you know the mastery levels of each of your team members?" Kaldur directed his last question at Icicle.

The metahuman nodded easily, an open smile on his face, "Yeah, we've got an order of who's the best at it and all that. Black Canary is well and beyond the rest of us losers. Ballistic is next. Then me. Firehawk and Supersonic are about equal. Then Changeling, then Maser, then Jinx."

There was a mean sneer in Artemis's voice when she asked, "Your _leader_ is in the middle when it comes to fighting abilities?"

Icicle sighed, "It's not like any of us started out life thinking that we were going to become some sort of attack team. Most of us didn't have _any_ hand to hand combat training before we started the Circus. Black Canary had a ton of it. Kelvin had a good amount. I had stuff that I picked up here and there and put to regular practice. Firehawk had some gentle training. The rest of them had never even tried to fight another person. Just because they're in the middle or lower or whatever in terms of hand to hand doesn't mean that they aren't the best somewhere else. We balance each other out."

"Well said," Kaldur interrupted before this could turn into something bad, "And, that being said, this training will teach us how to balance each other between our teams. We have fought within our own teams for a long time. This will teach us to fight with new players. Now, please, let us go to the training room and partner up with someone of the same fighting level as yourself."

He and Icicle trailed behind the group and ran a critical eye over the pairings. Robin was, unsurprisingly, facing off against Black Canary. Superboy, more due to his strength than any precise sort of fighting skill, was faced off against Ballistic, the two of them enormous forces towards the back. Zatanna and Jinx (Kaldur needed to talk to Zatanna about Jinx's request, now that he was thinking of it) had partnered and so had Maser and Raquel. Changeling was paired off with M'gann. Roy was against Firehawk. That left Artemis, Kaldur, and Icicle without partners. Inclining his head, Kaldur said to Icicle, "You could go against Artemis and I shall observe."

Icicle nodded, sizing up his new opponent. He walked towards her with a smirk on his face, hand held out in greeting. She sneered at him. His smirk widened. Her eyes rolled. Kaldur was not entirely certain what to make of the interaction.

He walked over to one wall as each pair began to fight each other in earnest. From what Kaldur could see, they were all relatively evenly matched. Most of the Team were better tactical fighters – having been trained by an ancient Amazon princess tended to have that effect. A lot of the Team were also more experienced. This was harder to see sometimes in battle, each of them new to fighting in the Team and therefore clumsier and less effective than they would have been otherwise. The Circus members made up for that disparity through tenacity and street moves that were so completely different from the formally trained Wonder Woman or the brutally trained assassins or high-level thugs that they often had to go against.

That wasn't always good enough for the Circus members to win, however. Conner and Ballistic were still facing off against each other, seemingly locked in an ineffectual grapple that was leaning slightly in Conner's favor. Zatanna and Jinx were leaning against the wall, catching their breath. Zatanna had easily taken Jinx down, launching the gaunt girl's form onto the ground moments after the battle ended. The same was obvious about Maser and Raquel. She was just leaning down to pick him off the ground. He was laughing, though, hand held to his forehead and chest heaving just as obviously as Raquel's. Artemis and Icicle were still facing off, but it was obvious to see where that confrontation was leading. Icicle was just staving off his inevitable defeat, desperately blocking hard blows, no chance to strike back.

Roy's defeat of Firehawk was less of an easy win, the two of them relatively closely matched. Roy's edge of greater experience and training won over, though, allowing him to pin Firehawk to the mat, the two of them slumping after the winner was decided.

Changeling and M'gann were still going. The groups that had already decided a winner stopped to watch them fight. Changeling was remarkable, obvious fighter's instincts and a wild fighting pattern that applied tactical lessons with a new edge that was obviously devastating to go against. He was the embodiment of the animals he could change into. Kaldur believed that Changeling would actually win that battle.

Black Canary and Dick were evenly matched. They flashed in and out of each other's space, ducking and dodging, driving cutting blows into each other's weak sections seconds after a hasty block was pulled into place. They were stunning to watch. Vaguely, Kaldur was aware of Conner finally winning in his match against Ballistic, Artemis doing the same in her own fight. Changeling took down M'gann. Kaldur's eyes were glued to the battled between Black Canary and Robin.

The rest of the group gathered around Kaldur, watching the two fight. It didn't seem as if it was going to end anytime soon. Their skill levels easily rivaled each other. Kaldur knew that Black Canary (or, at least, he _assumed_ ) did not have the same amount of experience in being a superhero, but she certainly had the experience in fighting opponents who were equal to or better than her.

In the end, that experience won out over Robin's own. She whipped around in a vicious palm-strike, diving into a complicated twisting kick that knocked Dick's legs out from underneath him, sending him painfully to the floor. Black Canary was on top of him an instant later, pinning him to the ground, huge muscles straining underneath her leather and fishnet. Dick grappled with her for a moment longer, trying to find a way out of the hold, but Black Canary didn't move at all, keeping him pinned. After another second of struggling, Dick slumped against the mat and tapped out, leaning his head back and just lying there when Black Canary got up and moved a little out of the way.

She was smirking down at him, "That'll teach you a little respect for your elders, huh?"

"You sure your metahuman abilities don't involve enhanced physical attributes?" Dick gasped, crawling up from the ground and doing some quick cool-down stretches.

Black Canary threw her head back and laughed, "I'm sure."

Almost unwillingly, Artemis whispered, "That was amazing."

Icicle beamed, "You should see her when she's using her powers."

"She's awesome when you're _watching_ her use her powers. She's awful when she's using her powers on _you_ ," Jinx complained, arms crossed over her chest. Changeling and Maser were nodding emphatically in agreement.

Black Canary rolled her eyes, "Like any of you are any better when you're using your powers. Changeling especially! Have any of you been attacked by an elephant with the intelligence of a human? It's not fun." Changeling grinned at her, unrepentant.

Kaldur focused on that thread of conversation, "Supersonic informed me that you changed into a dinosaur during the recent mission. What, exactly, can you turn into?"

Raquel made a quiet choking sound, "He _what_?"

"Almost gave me a heart attack," Roy muttered, arms crossed, "The _last_ thing I expected was for a T-Rex to pop up in the middle of the warehouse." Raquel's expression became, if possible, more horrified.

"Haha, sorry!" Changeling rubbed the back of his head, cheeks tinting a strange reddish-green color that was almost brown, "I can turn into pretty much any animal I've seen. And I've seen a lot. I used to… uh, I've seen a lot of animals over time. Sometimes, I just have to, like, be in a new environment and I can… I don't know… absorb the ability to turn into more animals? Like, when we went to Hell, I accidentally absorbed the ability to become the demons there?"

"When you… _what_?" Dick asked, mouth hanging open slightly. Now the rest of the Team was staring at Changeling in horror.

"It wasn't our fault! We were trying to help someone out! She had to go there and needed some back-up, so we… um, backed her up. It's okay! We didn't mess with anything! Too much!" Changeling tried to defend. The Team continued to stare at him.

Black Canary swooped in to help him, "That was a while ago. What Changeling is trying to say is that he can turn into most dinosaurs, various demons, and a large portion of animals and insects from Earth. He can turn into precisely three alien animal species. Sometimes, he can transform only part of his body into an animal part, but that's harder for him than it is to completely transform."

"Alright, thank you for sharing that," Kaldur nodded to the two of them, receiving a nod and a beamed smile in return, "In fact, we should share startling aspects of our abilities with each other. Things that could easily be distracting in a fight. Changeling can turn into large animals on a moment's notice. Anyone else?"

Black Canary shrugged, "What you see – or, well, _hear_ – is what you get with me. I know some of you haven't heard it, but I really do scream quite loud. That's literally it. I guess it could be considered distracting."

Zatanna nodded emphatically, "I have never heard someone scream so loud in my life."

"Could you show us?" Conner asked curiously. Robin, Zatanna, Roy, and M'gann immediately clapped their hands over their ears, the Circus members adjusting something in their comms.

Kaldur cautiously placed his own hands over his hears. Through the muffling of his fingers, he heard Artemis ask, "Why would we cover our ears if we want to hear how loud you scream?"

"You asked me to show what might be distracting, so I figured that I'd give you one of my loudest screams," Black Canary gave her a dry glance, disapproval and disinterest radiating from her. Artemis scowled, but covered her ears, the rest following suit.

Black Canary grimaced at Conner, "This is going to really, really suck for someone with super hearing." He shrugged and put his hands more firmly over his ears.

Black Canary eyed him for a moment longer before turning to face away from them and _screaming_. Even with his hands clasped over his ears, Kaldur was almost certain that her scream was the loudest sound he had ever had the misfortune of hearing in his life. The mats that were on the ground in front of Black Canary were physically picked up and displaced by the sound of her scream, sent careening across the floor. Kaldur could almost _see_ the air being displaced by the shrill scream.

After a second or so, the sound tapered off and Black Canary turned back around to face them. The expression on her face was not the smirking one that Kaldur had expected, but instead a cautious, calculating one. She was testing them by showing the Team her relationship, Kaldur realized. She was seeing how they would react, seeing how a blatant demonstration of a metahuman's powers would affect them.

Robin looked vaguely disgruntled, wincing and pushing at his ear. Conner was obviously dazed, hands still over his ears and eyes blinking rapidly. M'gann and Zatanna wore the same slightly pained, slightly awed expressions and Roy just looked annoyed. Those who had not heard the scream before were shell-shocked, staring at the mats that had been blown away in obvious disbelief. It was incredible that the sound waves created by someone's _voice_ was enough to forcibly move tangible objects.

Ballistic spoke into the silence, "I'm less impressive than all that. This is _literally_ what you get. I'm big, red, tough, and strong. I don't got anything else. Just know that I use a lot of big guns." His words broke the spell that had fallen over the group, allowing them to pull themselves back into the conversation.

Kaldur turned as Jinx spoke next, "I'm not just… telekinetic or whatever. I kind of cause… unlucky things to happen. I can convince things to fall over or whatever. I've been told that the things that happen because of my powers can be surprising sometimes. I knock things over a lot. Everything I grab with my powers turns pink."

"Pink like your sparkly little inner self," Icicle grinned. Jinx sent him a vicious death glare. Icicle was unfazed.

Icicle laughed and added, "It gets cold around me when I fight. I do sometimes ice the ground to knock the goons over and, well, the ice doesn't melt all that fast? So, I guess it could be really distracting if you slipped on the ice?"

"You think?" Artemis muttered sarcastically. Icicle raised an eyebrow at her. She scowled back.

Firehawk shrugged, "My fire gets pretty bright. There aren't really any secret powers there. I just control the fire that I create, and I fly. That's it."

Maser piped in, "I'm pretty not-distracting. The worst is when I turn into waves of energy because that can make a really bright light and then I'll be gone, so…"

"And you guys?" Icicle asked.

Kaldur shook his head, "First, what of your leader? Does Supersonic have any distracting, currently unknown abilities?"

Icicle wrinkled his nose, "I mean, yes? His powers are pretty expansive. First of all, the little lightning trails and wind that he leaves behind can be pretty distracting, but that's really easy to get used to in a battle since everything's so fast paced anyways. He can spin his hands around in circles fast enough to create little air tunnel things? He can get rid of a fire that way. If he runs really fast in a circle, he can create a miniature tornado. If he runs opposite a tornado, then he can unravel it. That's pretty much it. We're all discovering new aspects of our powers every day, though. It's not an easy process. Now, how about you guys?"

Icicle seemed uncomfortable talking about the unknown qualities of his powers and Kaldur could understand that. The knowledge that metahumans had no one, no history to help them understand every facet of their power was one of the things that anti-metahuman ideal supporters lauded as evidence to support their views. Metahumans were constantly discovering new abilities and new uses for their powers, most often in highly stressful situations, leading to accidental civilian casualties and collateral damage of epic proportions.

Kaldur smoothed over the issue by continuing, "Although my training in the subject is still a work in progress, I do have some training in Atlantean sorcery. My people can control the water and shape it to their will. We often shape it into sea beasts or large weapons, which can survive those who had not seen it before. In regard to myself, if I am to use my sorcery, it is most likely to simply form a large wave."

Icicle nodded, seemingly impressed. Roy picked up the conversation, "Robin, Artemis, and I don't have any powers. We're the same as Ballistic: just watch out for our weapons and the things they can do. Artemis and I used polyurethane arrows a lot. They basically shoot out this foam that spreads and hardens around an enemy."

Firehawk rolled her eyes, "Don't tell Supersonic about that. He'll geek out all over it." She took on a higher pitched voice, hands clasped in front of her and eyelashes batting dramatically, "How does it work? What's the strength? How fast does it spread? What properties make it up? How do you choose when it leaves the arrow?"

Another obviously altered high-pitched voice continued, "What's the chemical makeup? What properties allow it to harden? Have you ever accidentally caught a teammate in it?" Supersonic stood there, mouth tugged down into his typical tired frown. There was a light in his voice, though, that belied his amusement at the moment he'd walked into, "Come on, I know you have a man voice, but my voice is lower than that!"

Icicle interrupted before Firehawk (who was puffing herself up in the background, scowl overtaking her expression) could say anything, "You seem to be in a good mood. And you're back fast. Found the leak already?"

Supersonic lifted his hand, tilting it side to side in a so-so motion, "Not really? I set, um, the power negating meta on interrogating the prisoners to see if any of them had something that allowed information to leave the place so the actual leak, if they're there, won't know that we suspect them. I am, however, starting to think that it might not be any of them. I took a look at cameras around the area and no one's even left in a good long while."

Robin spoke before Icicle could, "You suspect someone else."

Roy's expression narrowed, "You can't blame this on our 'mole.' There's no way they would have known about your little rehab center or whatever."

Supersonic's nose scrunched, "I think it's… the people we got ideas from."

The Team stared at him blankly, but the Circus made knowing noises, expressions dropping slightly at the idea.

Artemis threw her hands in the air, " _Seriously_? You can't even trust us with this?"

"We don't trust you with a lot of things," Supersonic answered blandly, continuing with, "But this one isn't our secret to tell. The people we got ideas from were formed and hiding for longer than we've been doing the same thing. They've been more than kind to us and I'm going to respect that."

"Even though you think they betrayed you," Artemis countered.

Supersonic shrugged, "Even thought I think _one_ of them betrayed us. They've got people with differing opinions and anger just like any well-established group does." His expression was still considering, obviously attempting to calculate who it was that betrayed him.

Raquel asked cautiously, "Do you think you know which one?"

"I think so? I don't know. I'm going to have to talk to them and see what I can get, but that'll wait until tonight. I've missed out on enough training as it is. Also, speaking of which, I am interested in those polyurethane arrows. Polyurethane has always been a fascinating subject."

"Are you a scientist?" M'gann inquired, voice soft and sweet, nothing but honest curiosity in her voice.

Supersonic's voice was wry, only the slightest hint of bitterness in it when he answered, "I think I would have liked to be one."

Even Artemis fell silent at those words, shoulders slumping in a little bit.

It was Black Canary who broke the mood, "Well, new leader? What do we need to work on?"

Kaldur startled a little bit when he realized that they were talking to him. He blinked, mentally floundering for a moment before he composed himself (the amused tilt of Supersonic's lips showed that he was inwardly laughing at Kaldur's mental flailing), "The number one priority for training is to get both teams to work together seamlessly, in any combination possible. The secondary priority is to train the Circus members to be subtler. We are a covert operations team and your powers are not necessarily suited to that task. Supersonic and I have discussed other items that need to be addressed, but those are not related to training and will be spoken of after this, with only the team members necessary for the discussions." He studiously ignored the way every single teenager on the team sent an obvious glance at Artemis. Honestly, they _were_ supposed to be covert ops, even if they did not act like it sometimes.

Supersonic pitched in, "This week before the League members start coming in is all about getting to know each other. I know some of you are going to want to get onto the Light problem immediately, but we can't just run into that. We need to get to know each other first. This week will get us better at fighting with each other and will allow us to make sure that everyone has the same information. We'll do a session later in the week to catch each other up on what we know about the Light. Be prepared for that." He paused, searching each person's face. He turned to Kaldur and Kaldur nodded. Nodding back, Supersonic announced, "Let's get at it, then."

 **Author's Note: Yay, writer's block! It went away in the last one or two thousand words, but ugh. Yikes. I got through it, though! And I already have inspiration for next week's chapter, so we're good.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! Also, wow. I had so many typos in that last chapter, I am so sorry. I just… I have no words. Sorry about that! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **HI – Hopefully! That's part of the point of this little alliance, so hopefully it works out that way. Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Wally took a deep breath, resting his hands against his thighs and dropped his head below shoulder level, just taking the moment to _breathe_. He felt a body settle on the wall next to him; it wasn't one he immediately recognized. It must be a Team member. Wally wrinkled his nose. Couldn't they have come up with a better name? Did they even realize how confusing it was to name their team "Team?" Because it was confusing. And lame. And unoriginal. Wally was consistently disappointed in it.

Robin's voice asked lightly, "You doing okay there?"

"Peachy," Wally gasped, head dangling. The training exercises had graduated from pairing off against each other to full-on combat simulations. The Team's temporary HQ's combat simulation was _way_ higher tech than Wally's _main_ HQ's combat simulation (meaning, Wally didn't have simulation software at his main HQ. They were still working on trying to rig something like that up). That being said, fighting against simulation opponents was a lot harder than whatever training exercises Wally and/or Dinah could think up. Especially when they did it on repeat.

Robin snorted, "Wonder Woman is going to tear you to shreds."

Wally tilted his head up, peering up at Robin through his goggles, "That's nice." He raised an eyebrow.

Giving off the impression that he was rolling his eyes, Robin smirked brightly at Wally, "Just being honest! But it'll be the good kind of being torn to shreds. Besides, you heal fast."

Wally's mouth twisted, and he muttered under his breath, "With a hero? There's no good kind."

Apparently, Robin heard him because his lips twisted down too, and he said, "We're not bad people."

"Didn't say you were," Wally answered tiredly, stretching out now that the practice was done. He could see his team staggering around the room, trying to gain energy back. Except for Harold and Garfield because they were apparently inexhaustible sources of energy.

"You didn't have to. That's what you meant," Robin accused, the little frown still on his face.

Wally rolled his eyes, "I didn't say that, and I didn't mean that. Just because people do bad things doesn't mean they're bad people. I was just saying that I don't have the best history with heroes being nice to me. I get that you guys are heroes and you do amazing things. That's it."

There was a long pause where they stretched in silence before Robin said quietly, "Sorry."

"Don't be. I understand where you're coming from," And Wally did. This whole controversy with metahumans had been around for eight years or so. How old had this teenaged hero been when metahumans started popping up with alarming frequency? How old had he been when the first camp was created? It wasn't easy to convince people of something when they'd grown up hearing nothing but that. It was why the teenage members of the Circus had such a hard time with self-esteem and self-love. They'd been told since they were relatively young that they were monsters and freaks. It wasn't easy to push past that.

"I had totally expected you to be chalant about all of this," Robin stated, brows furrowed.

Wally narrowed his eyes, "You… _what_?"

"Oh!" Robin said, grin taking over his expression again, "So, you know how nonchalant means super chill and just cool with it? Well, doesn't it make sense that chalant would mean the opposite? Super not chill and not cool with it?"

For a long second, Wally stared at Robin, "… Well… yes… I guess it does make sense. But that's not a word."

"I made it one!" Robin pouted, arms actually crossing over his chest petulantly.

Sending a confused glance at the hero, Wally shook his head, "Okay, man. Whatever you say."

"Anyways," Robin stressed, "My point is that you and the rest of the Circus are a lot calmer about this whole alliance thing than I'd been expecting. From what I heard, the only potential hold-out is Firehawk."

Wally rolled his eyes, "Yeah, she's a bit of a firecracker. Then again, so is your Artemis. And the rest of you are calm about this whole thing. I'd say we're in the same place. Both of our teams are mainly calm with one hold-out. We're both per-say superhero teams, you know. It's not all that surprising that we have the same reaction to this."

Robin gave him an expression that was unreadable through the domino mask, something serious but undefinable in the set of his chin, the slant of his mouth. Wally wanted to say something, to ask a question, to break the silence, but, in the end, he just let the silence grow, finally finishing his stretches. Cameron sent him a questioning glance and Wally made a small motion with his fingers, indicating that Wally would tell him later. Cameron nodded in response.

Finally, Robin spoke, "I think you're all more different than you could know."

Wally pursed his lips, reading the extra layer in that sentence. Metahumans were different than what the Collection Agency allowed people to think about them. Robin was finally starting to take notice of what Wally wanted him to see. Humans couldn't have a metahuman tell them that they were the same, that there was no significant difference between a human and a meta, that the metas just wanted to live a normal life like everyone else. If a metahuman told a human that, it would be disregarded. The prejudice ran too deep, the institutionalized ideals too firmly engrained. But if a human saw for themselves that metahumans weren't what they were cracked up to be, if they came to their own realization, _then_ there could be change. There could be a new life for metas. A life where they weren't hidden away in an isolated city in Canada.

Eventually, Wally shrugged, "I guess so."

He could feel Robin's eyes on his back as he walked away.

Wally had intended to walk over to where Cameron was standing with Kelvin, but Aqualad called him over first. Curious, Wally moved over to where Aqualad was standing with Red Arrow. He asked, "What's up?"

Aqualad nodded to Red Arrow and the redhead moved away, sending the two of them a curious glance. Aqualad said, "I was thinking that perhaps we could meet with the necessary individuals right away for conversation."

"Wow, you move fast," Wally said, both eyebrows raising. Aqualad just nodded to him. Wally shrugged, "Sure, I don't see why not. Want to get Artemis out of the way, then do Zatanna, then talk to the whole group?"

"That will work for me," Aqualad answered. He turned to face the group, "Perhaps you could all retire to the living room or the kitchen. Supersonic and I will be talking to specific people before addressing the group at large." There were furtive glances at Artemis, but no one said anything.

As they started moving out of the room, Aqualad putting a large hand on Artemis's shoulder to stop her from leaving the room, Wally called out, "Good job training, guys. We worked well together." And it was true. Despite neither of the teams being used to each other's powers and their fighting styles being drastically different, they were able to work well together. As exhausting as it was, the training had been fun and enlightening instead of stressful and tense as Wally had predicted. It was probably a good thing that those missions had come in at the time they had. Having those missions before they even tried training was a blessing in disguise.

There were a few nods and smiles turned in his direction, but otherwise, the group was silent as they trekked out of the training room and towards the living room or kitchen. Probably kitchen. Wally knew that his people at least were always hungry after a good round of training.

Goodness knew he was. Not that that was important at the moment.

Artemis's voice took his mind off of food, "Why am I here?"

Aqualad frowned at her, eyebrows drawing together above his eyes, "I believe you know the answer to that, Artemis. Your behavior has been unacceptable recently."

"Seriously?" Artemis asked, stance growing defensive, "I haven't done anything wrong! Besides, what is _he_ doing here? He doesn't need to be here for this!"

Aqualad's voice was firm and unyielding when he answered, "He is a leader of this team, too, Artemis. You must come to understand that. He is responsible for doling out punishment just as I am." Wally could see Artemis getting angrier, probably distraught that someone who was supposed to be on her side wasn't taking it. He knew that someone needed to step in and he knew that that person probably wasn't him.

Still, there was no one else. Wally tried to make his voice as soft and soothing as possible without making it patronizing, "Look, Artemis. I just want to know _why_ you seem to have some sort of special vendetta against us? We're trying to make this work. If you have a specific problem with me or my team or my _kind_ , please let me know."

Her face lit up with anger, but Wally had practice reading expressions on people who tried to avoid projecting their emotions. At the camps, too much emotion was a way to get targeted, no matter what emotion it was. The metas that Wally had seen in those long six years wore blank expressions, but Wally did that too. He learned to read deeper. Artemis's expression might be showing anger, but there were other emotions buried underneath it, obviously meant to be hidden. She was afraid. She was guilty.

Artemis snarled, "You want to know what my problem with you is? You're _killers_! No better than the criminals we swore to catch when we decided to become superheroes! You are _villains_ and everyone's just ignoring that fact! Maybe you don't like the way the camps work or the Collection Agency or whatever. Don't kill people and destroy things to get change! And! And you don't save humans! You leave them in whatever horrible place you took metas from. How can you try to say that you're 'just the same as us' when you won't save humans? When you segregate yourselves and keep secrets and screw the rest of us over? How can you even _pretend_ you're the same when you draw people into a life of crime, when metahumans are making up a _huge_ and _growing_ portion of the villains in the world?" She breathed harshly, hands clenched at her sides. She was furious, the anger leaking off her in waves.

Aqualad's eyes were soft and understanding, but he didn't say anything, leaving this open for Wally. Wally had the feeling that this moment was why Aqualad had really wanted him here. So he could defend himself. He took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts, "Artemis. First, whether you believe me or not, we do try to avoid killing. Sometimes, though, it's our third or fourth time fighting this person and we've tried to help them, to rehabilitate them and it doesn't work. Sometimes, we just don't have enough training to get out of a situation without killing the other person. I don't know if you realize how incredible it is that you guys don't kill people. It requires so much more skill to fight without killing the opponent, especially when they're trying to kill you.

"Second, I tried saving humans in the beginning. I received resistance from so many sources that I gave it up. Yeah, that wasn't good of me. And yeah, it was probably the coward's way out. Yeah, I should have done better. But I've only been doing this for a year. My own team didn't want me to save humans because they were afraid of them. Why wouldn't they be? A human would turn us into the camps just as soon as they'd accept our help. Because that's another problem. There are humans who _fought_ me, who _drew blood_ to avoid being rescued by me. They told me that they'd rather die than be rescued by a metahuman. And the metahumans I rescued? Some said that they wouldn't come with me if I rescued a human. Because they were afraid of humans, too. It came down to rescuing my own kind, who I had promised to help, who _wanted_ my help, or rescuing humans, who no one wanted me to rescue, including they themselves. I made my decision and I won't regret it.

"Third, I can't do anything about the last bit. Every population has a portion of criminals. Maybe there's something about metas that makes it easier for them to commit crimes. Maybe it's the way we're treated by humans. Maybe it's the idea that we won't be able to go anywhere else with our lives. Maybe it's none of those things. But you can't take that out on my team. We fight those criminals just like you do. We want them off the street just as bad as you do." Wally finished with a sigh. That was a longer speech than he'd given in a long time. Probably since he snapped one day and yelled at Dinah. She'd been trying to psychoanalyze him or whatever and he, well, hadn't quite appreciated it at the moment.

Artemis's expression was tight, her jaw clenched and her lips quivering. She pushed out, "Can I talk to Supersonic alone?"

Aqualad's eyebrows rose in alarm and he turned his head slightly towards Wally, as if asking him what he wanted. Wally shrugged, leaving the decision up to Aqualad. After a brief moment of thought, Aqualad bowed his head and said, "Of course." He left the room with just one curious, worried glance back at them.

Wally turned back to Artemis, staying silent. He'd let her say what she wanted to say. He wouldn't push her.

After a long, _long_ moment, Artemis swallowed harshly and admitted, "I don't actually hate metahumans."

"It wouldn't surprise me if you did hate us," Wally allowed her, staying still in his spot.

"I just… My parents were… My mom was relying on a meta to do a job with her and my dad and the job went south. Everything that could have gone wrong did and I ended up not being able to see my mom for six years and now she's a paraplegic." Artemis admitted, voice small, but hard.

"Why are you telling me this? I'm willing to bet that the reason you sent Aqualad away is because you haven't told him this." Wally asked, honestly curious. He couldn't tell if it was what she meant, but it sounded like her parents were criminals and one of their heists – one they'd ran with a meta – went south, leaving her mom paralyzed and in jail. Which, yeah, that would suck. Still not a good enough reason to hate an entire species. Though, Wally couldn't really blame her.

When it became clear that she wasn't going to answer anytime soon, Wally admitted, "My parents were the ones who turned me in to the Collection Agency. They… the doctor realized it when I was in the hospital. I recovered too fast from what I'd been put in there for and they knew what I was. My mom didn't even stay to watch them leave. She didn't say anything to me the entire time I was in the hospital, actually. My dad called me a freak and then left without saying goodbye or, or I'll see you after they fix your, or I love you. They just left. And I hated them for it. I hated _humans_ for it. I thought, how callous must humans be that finding out someone was a metahuman made them stop loving them?" He shook his head, emotion clogging his throat. He hadn't really meant to tell her all that.

She was staring at him with wide, open eyes, "You said _hated_ , not _hate_. You don't hate them anymore?"

"No," Wally said softly, "First came the realization that my parents had _always_ been like that, even before they found out I was a metahuman. They really didn't change at all. I just finally realized it. Then came the realization that, in the end, they did love me and that was their way of showing it. I mean, I'm just assuming. Maybe it's wishful thinking. I like to believe it's not and that they just… I don't think they really wanted a kid and when they got stuck with me… they did their best? I don't know. Hate isn't worth holding onto."

"Have you visited them? Or at least checked up on them?" Artemis asked, painfully curious and hopeful.

Wally shook his head, "I'm not quite strong enough for that. How about you? I'm making assumptions here, but your father isn't really in picture anymore, is he? You visit him?"

Her lips twitched, and her jaw clenched again, " _He_ visited _me_."

Wally sighed, "I can't tell you how to feel because I don't have _nearly_ enough information, but hate really, _really_ isn't worth holding onto. It's just… it's draining, isn't it? And, I'm going to have this same conversation with Firehawk. With the rest of my team, actually. Most of them understand that on a basic level, but I'll make sure that they put it into practice. Okay?"

Artemis swallowed, "This doesn't mean I like you. And you can't tell anyone what I've told you!"

"Ditto," Wally said, amused despite himself. The amusement faded into slight panic as he waved his hands around, "Wait, only the second part! I only ditto the second part! I like you. Well, I mean, I've only had like two conversations with you. So… I like you as much as I can. As a _friend_! Wait, no, not a friend. I… leader. I like you as a member of my team. Yes. That."

Artemis shook her head in exasperation, "It amazes me that the Circus let such a dunderhead lead them." Wally mocked indignation. The moment faded into calm.

The two gave each other quick, commiserating smiles. Wally knew that this wasn't a permanent fix. It was a strong fix and it would weather a lot of storms, but it wasn't permanent. She would be in close contact with a lot of people that she was afraid of and mad at and she would feel guilty for both emotions and that wasn't a good mixture for anyone. Her natural personality was fire-bright and brash, sharp edges that were going to take a lot of time to smooth down. Still, for now? It was a good thing.

Awkward now that the bonding moment was over, Artemis jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "Want me to go grab Aqualad?"

"Yeah, thanks. Oh, go ahead and bring Zatanna in, too. She was the next one we were going to talk to," Wally answered.

Artemis's brow furrowed, "Why do you want to talk to _Zatanna_?"

Wally raised both eyebrows, "Do you want me to tell her why we talked to _you_?"

"No," Artemis answered sullenly. Wally just stared at her. She rolled her eyes and walked out of the training room. Wally rolled his eyes at her retreating form.

It wasn't long before Aqualad and a confused looking Zatanna walked in. Wally wanted to sigh. He hated serious conversations. He really, really did. Hopefully it wouldn't last too long.

When the other two came to stand next to him, Wally nodded to Aqualad, a sign that he should introduce the conversation. Aqualad nodded back and turned to Zatanna, "You are not in trouble. We merely wished to speak with you about a proposition." He turned the conversation over to Wally.

Wally scratched the back of his neck and said, "Do you remember how Jinx introduced her powers? She said that she can do magic, but not like the way you do magic. She was wondering if you would be willing to try to teach it to her? Obviously, there's a chance that it won't work, and she's prepared for that, but she'd like to try to learn."

Zatanna's mouth fell open, "Wait, seriously?" Wally nodded. Zatanna blinked, looking down at her feet for a moment before she looked up, expression smoothing out, "Of course I'll try to teach her magic. I'm really not sure if it will work. My magic is passed down through the family bloodline. But, no one really knows how metahuman powers work and you guys all say that her powers are like magic, right?"

Unable to just let it go, Wally answered, "Assuming magic existed, yes." Both Aqualad and Zatanna turned incredulous stares on him. He scowled, "What?"

Zatanna's expression was horrified, "You don't believe in magic?"

"I am _not_ getting into this argument with you! I've had this argument enough times with Jinx. That's it. I regret saying anything. Conversation over. I will talk to Jinx and we'll figure out between the four of us when you can do your not-magic training or whatever." Wally answered, throwing his hands up defensively. Zatanna put a hand to her mouth and giggled, eyes bright and amused.

"Of course," Aqualad stepped in smoothly. His voice was clear and controlled, but Wally could see the tremor at the corners as if he were trying to stop himself from laughing. Why did Wally surround himself with people who were cruel to him? Why?

Zatanna snorted, clapping a hand over her mouth quickly as she dissolved into laughter. Wally rolled his eyes. After a moment, Zatanna gained control of herself and asked, "Do you want me to tap the next person in?" Wally rolled his eyes again.

Aqualad smiled gently at her, "No, thank you. I believe you were the last one we wanted to talk to individually. Anything else can be addressed with the group as a whole." Wally nodded with him.

The three of them walked out of the training room together, into the kitchen like Wally had expected.

It was only Wally's faster than normal perception that allowed him to catch the projectile before it beaned him in the face. Scowling, Wally glared at Cameron, "Really?"

"You need to eat," Cameron replied, munching on his own food. He continued staring at his own food, apparently impervious to Wally's death glare. Then again, after being on the receiving end of it so many times, it really wasn't all that surprising that he'd developed some sort of resistance against it. Honestly, Cameron was such a mother hen it wasn't even funny. Wally could never really judge him for it, though because Cameron was this way because he was so unerringly loyal. It was humbling to see.

That is, it was humbling to see when Wally wasn't trying to bore holes in the back of his head.

Aqualad's voice drifted over the group, "We have something we would like to address with the group as a whole. The matter of killing was something that we did not bring up in our initial meeting, but we should have. The Circus kills while the Team is strongly against killing of any kind."

Artemis and Wally shared a slightly uncomfortable glance, the two of them reminded of their earlier conversation. Cameron shrugged, "I mean, we can try not to kill? We haven't really been trained how _not_ to kill, so there's a chance we'll accidentally kill someone. And I know that if it's a choice between a teammate and the enemy, I'm going to choose my teammate."

"No one is asking you to abandon your team members," Aqualad soothed, "We merely ask that you avoid killing at almost all cost. If it is necessary, we can try to focus our training on teaching you how to not kill."

Dinah nodded, "We don't actively try to kill people. It's actually normally better if the people survive anyways." She shrugged her broad shoulders. The Team was giving her horrified expressions.

Superboy's brows were furrowed, "Don't you want the justice system to deal with it?"

Lorraine snorted, "We deal with metas. And everyone knows that the justice system isn't all that just when it comes to metas."

"Either way," Wally cut off before the situation could devolve any further into politics, "It would be great if we could be taught ways _not_ to kill in battle. We'll focus on that in our training. The Circus will do their level best to avoid killing. Everyone good?" The gathered group nodded at him over their lunch. He nodded back.

Aqualad suddenly put his hand up to his ear, nodding at something that none of them could hear. He put his hand back down and turned to Wally, "The League would like to talk to you through the meeting room downstairs."

Wally hung his head, taking a deep breath. Seriously? It's like they were waiting for Wally to have to deal with a ton of serious or semi-serious conversations before they talked to him. He was seriously not in the mood at the moment. Why was this his life?

Sighing, Wally nodded before _inhaling_ his food. Artemis made quiet gagging noises in the background. Robin and Red Arrow were watching him with a mix of horror and awe. The rest were staring at him with just horror. The Circus members continued on as if nothing unusual was happening. For them, it probably wasn't unusual. Wally needed to eat a lot, but he didn't have a lot of time. Most of his meals were generally inhaled so he could get back to work.

Once he finished, he nodded to Aqualad and the two of them started heading towards the basement. They walked in silence until they reached the room. Aqualad gestured to the inside and said, "I'll let you here. I can turn the devices off once you are done."

Wally wanted to ask that Aqualad stay with him (what? Yeah, he was scared of the Justice League. Sue him. Everyone was scared of the Justice League) but refrained. That would have been unprofessional.

Taking a deep breath, Wally stepped into the meeting room. There was a large screen up against one wall. It was showing the Justice League, each of them sitting straight and tall and imposing in their individual chairs. Wally felt a part of him die at the sight.

He'd never actually _seen_ the whole Justice League together? Sure, he'd seen images of a few of them teaming up to deal with this problem or that on television in the spare moments when he could watch the news, but that was it. There was one brief skirmish him and Garfield had encountered with Martian Manhunter, but that was just the Martian (and a very confusing memory for Wally; him and Garfield had been at the beginning of their hero careers and weren't anywhere near good enough for fighting one of the founding members of the Justice League, but they'd beaten Martian Manhunter anyways. Wally always had the feeling that the Martian had let them go that day, but he could never explain why). Seeing them all arrayed out in front of him was understandably intimidating.

Batman let the uncomfortable silence linger for a long moment before speaking, voice gravelly and dark, "Supersonic. We are here to discuss certain aspects of your alliance with the Team."

"Do you have any points that you would specifically like to address?" Wally asked, trying not to let his fear show. How could he not be afraid of these people, these powerful heroes?

Batman's voice was unreadable, expression smooth, "Where is your metahuman rehabilitation center? What technology are you using to negate the powers of metahumans? What is your identity? Who betrayed you?"

Wally's eyebrows rose, indignation unconsciously coming to the forefront, "I just told the team about the betrayal _this morning_. And I was with the Team members the entire time. None of them sent a message. Do you have _cameras_ in here?" Batman didn't answer. Wally felt his indignation grow into angry frustration, "Listen here, as far as I'm concerned, the Team is a subsidiary of the Justice League. Therefore, your actions are reflections of the Team and therefore can affect the state of our alliance. We did _not_ agree to be _spied_ on." He could feel speed building in his fists and legs.

Superman broke the tense feeling that had quickly overtaken the meeting, "Please, allow us to speak, Supersonic." He waited to see if Wally was going to fight it, but Wally pulled himself back together, staying silent. Superman nodded to him, "Good. You're right when you said that you consider the Team to be a subsidiary of the Justice League. All throughout our headquarters, there are video cameras and mics. We keep video evidence of our locations in order to keep our members safe."

"And if you happen to get information on us, all the better, right?" Wally asked, jaw tight with anger. He knew he shouldn't say anything. He knew he should just let it go and deal with it, but it _burned_. He and his team had done _everything_ to be accommodating and kind and understanding. The _least_ they could do was be honest and upfront with Wally! Argh! The fury itched in his veins, a need to run that tore through his skin like fire, electric sparks crackling on the surface of his skin.

He breathed in, pulling the static back into himself, doing his best to control the raging tempest twining with his blood. Superman continued as if Wally hadn't said a thing, "As we do this with our own headquarters, we're going to do the same thing in the headquarters of our sidekicks, in order to keep them safe. Now, can we move on to the other questions?"

Wally continued swallowing the rage down, voice cold and hard when he responded, "I can't answer any of your other questions. The answers are on a need-to-know basis and you don't need to know for this alliance to work."

"We cannot trust you with the metahumans if you cannot trust us with their location!" Wonder Woman argued, leaning forward slightly on the table.

Shaking his head, Wally argued back, "Why not? They're detained. Even if they're not, there's no benefit for us to let the metas go back to the Light and if they're not in the Light and not hurting people, then why do you need to know where they are?"

"They're breaking the law," Batman growled, "They need to be placed in camps."

"And yet, you're conveniently forgetting that fact in order to use the Circus. Why is this any different? What if I told you that they were auxiliary Circus members? Because they are. As metahumans that we have rescued and not let go of, they are currently members of the Circus and will give us information and, if needed, soldiers." Wally threw back, furious at these humans, furious at their hypocrisy and their stupid rules and their stupid certainty that they were always right.

His response left them silent for a long moment. Wally and Batman stared at each other, something unspeakable passing through his cowl and Wally's goggles. Wally felt like the mood in the room had changed, like there was something less hostile in Batman's posture, something more… calculating. Wally wasn't entirely certain which he would prefer.

Green Arrow changed the subject nervously, "So, any points you'd like to bring up?"

"Mission assignments and detainment of captured metahumans were the only things on my list," Wally answered, voice low.

"Mission assignments?" Martian Manhunter asked, voice smooth and completely calm, unruffled.

It calmed Wally, made it easier for him to take a quick breath and answer in a normal voice, "Yes. From what I understand, you assign missions to the Team. Do you need us to inform you whenever the Circus gets a mission? We probably won't give you all the details, but at least an overview and a suspected timeline."

"Why would you give us this?" Aquaman asked, gaze intense.

Wally resisted the urge to scowl, "Because I'm trying to make this work. We're teaming up to take down the Light. We can't do that if missions are messed up because there aren't the right number of people at the base, or the wrong person is gone that day or whatever. I'm doing this because I thought it might help." Aquaman stared at him for a moment longer before, slowly, nodding.

Batman's voice was less of a growl and more of just a low, deep voice when he said, "Yes, we want you to inform us of your missions," he paused, "… as much information as you can give us."

Wally's eyes flickered to Batman in surprise. That almost sounded like an apology of sorts. As if he were letting Wally decide how much information to give Batman so Wally could keep his people safe. It was an unexpected admission. Wally was grateful for it.

"And the other one?" Wally prompted, refusing to thank Batman for the sudden gift he'd given Wally.

Superman's lips twitched down into a frown, but it was Wonder Woman who spoke, "We cannot simply allow you to disappear with the metahumans! We do not know you well enough to feel comfortable with leaving you with criminals!" She was fiery hot and full of passion about it, almost standing from her chair, expression severe, but still gorgeous.

Green Lantern sighed, "C'mon, can't we just let the kid have them? I mean, we don't know how many metas he's rescued, but we do know information on a lot of metas and they haven't appeared on the streets causing havoc, so where's the harm? From the evidence, he keeps them controlled wherever he takes them." Wally's hand twitched. He 'keeps them controlled?' Unbelievable. Maybe he just _treats them like normal people_. Has the same effect. Wally swallowed down his anger again, trying to keep the fury off his skin.

Green Arrow shrugged, "GL's got a point."

Hawkwoman was scowling, "The metahumans need to be in camps! The camps were created for a reason!"

"He is not disagreeing," Martian Manhunter soothed, "He is saying that, for the benefit of the alliance and the benefit of the world when the Light is defeated, it is best to allow the Circus to detain any metahumans they captured in their own detainment facility." Hawkwoman calmed slightly, feathers shifting back into place. She was still glaring off to the side, though.

It was Batman who made the final decision after a long moment of having silent conversation with Superman, "You may keep the metahumans you capture."

Wally's shoulders slumped, words tasting like ash on his tongue, "Thank you." He shouldn't have to thank them! They should be thanking him for everything he's done for them and their little Team! He pulled his fury back into himself again, waiting. This wasn't the time. This _wasn't_ the time.

Batman's inscrutable expression was almost a tipping point, but luckily Batman simply said, "There will be more questions later. You are dismissed for now." The screen went dark.

Wally wanted to break something.

They were treating him like he was some little kit, like he was some _lesser being_! How dare they? He could destroy them if he wanted to, run to wherever their little headquarters were and take them apart piece by piece. They would be too slow to stop him. They were all too slow to stop him. They'd realize that he wasn't some low-level freak kid when he knocked them all flat on the ground!

Taking a grounding breath, Wally tried to keep pulling the anger back into himself, into his skin. It didn't work.

Lightning sparked off of his skin, crackling over his suit. He could feel the Speed Force gathering in his eyes, static merging with him as if it was a part of him. The world sped up and slowed down around him.

The door opened, revealing Cameron, Aqualad, Robin, and Red Arrow. The latter three stared at him with something akin to horror. Good. They should feel horrified. Wally felt sick at his thoughts but was too angry to care. He was sick of being tossed aside and disregarded and treated like he was worth less than humans.

Cameron's lips pursed, "That good, huh?"

Wally flashed out of the room.

 **Author's Note: QUESTION! Like, I'm genuinely curious to see if someone knows the answer to this. In the first season of YJ, Aqualad does not permanently live in the Cave. Zatanna, M'gann, and Conner are the only ones, right? And Kaldur hadn't visited his homeland of the Atlanteans or whatever until a couple episodes in, right? Because none of his friends had seen him in a while. So, here's my question: where does Aqualad stay? Like, what is his living situation? That question seriously bothers me. Also, I swear I'll stop world building and get onto the actual plot next chapter. There's just… a lot to talk about :(. Thanks for reading! Five more reviews for another chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! A little early because I'm going home for the weekend and who knows what kind of time I'll get there? Thanks for staying with this story! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **HI – Thanks for the answer. It just… confused me all the time. Probably just because Kaldur doesn't get nearly enough screen time for how awesome he is. Thanks for the review!**

 **Anett** **-** **¡Me alegro de que te guste! Y sabes que Wally tiene suficiente control sobre su velocidad para aterrorizar a la Liga de la Justicia. Gracias por la revisión!**

 **Candle – Good job, you got it! Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Wally slowed down somewhere in Northern Rhelasia. Ironically, despite the country being military led and an all around miserable place for literally everyone, they were pretty good about metahumans. They required metas to enlist, but that was required for all soldiers. And, sure, the training that the metas go through is a little more brutal and the assignments they're sent on are a little more suicidal and the punishments when they fail or disobey were normally death, but honestly? That was a lot better than most other places.

Wally felt his breathing start to regulate. The run hadn't really gotten him out of breath, but his anger had. His anger had rushed through his veins and filled him with such, such _fury_ and _fire_. Somedays, the Speed Force rushing through his veins just got to be _so much,_ so _intense_ that Wally felt like he was just going to fall apart into the electricity that swam in his blood. He was just going to merge with the Speed Force, disappear into it's welcoming folds like he was finally coming home.

Not yet, though. Wally had a team to protect, a people to save. He didn't have time for dreams of falling into the Speed Force the way one would fall into the arms of a loved one.

Sighing, Wally hunkered down, running his hands repeatedly through his hair.

This was just… just a colossal mess. And there really wasn't any one person to blame for it. Wally supposed that he could just blame the Light and be done with it, but this wasn't really their fault either. If it was, then Wally would have to take a moment to be real impressed before he took them down. But seriously. There had been fear and frustration surrounding the metahuman race since they were first discovered. People hated what they didn't understand. That was human nature. And these new humans, these people who were endlessly complex and who represented mystery after unsolvable mystery were made a target of that human nature.

It was – not quite understandable. Wally wasn't sure what it was. Sad? Inevitable? He wasn't sure. He did know that it sucked and that it wouldn't be an easy fix.

Who did he think he was? Thinking he could change the world by getting a couple of kid-heroes to maybe sort of like a select group of metas. What would that do? Who would that convince? The big league heroes were obviously way more opposed to metas than their offspring. And they were the ones that really had sway out in the world.

No! Wally sat back further on his haunches. He couldn't afford to think that way. He was doing this for a reason. Besides, the main purpose of this alliance was to destroy the Light. Anything else was secondary and relied on long term plans and a whole lot of hoping. He could do this. It didn't matter if he didn't do this. It was all going to work out. Wally took a deep breath.

And promptly choked on it when a bolt of reddish-yellow lightning skidded to a stop in front of him.

He was on his feet in femtoseconds, hands held out in a defensive position.

The lightning bolt in front of him materialized into a man with his hands raised in the universal 'I'm innocent' gesture. Wally didn't put his arms down. He took a moment to scrutinize the man in front of him. The former lightning bolt was definitely older than Wally. There was stubble along his chin, a light gravelly blonde that just made him look slovenly, not ruggedly handsome. His blonde hair was shaggy, falling into crystal blue eyes, splaying across tanned skin. The man was wearing a bright red spandex suit, a jagged lightning bolt displayed across his chest, cowl down. His gloves and boots were the same obnoxious yellow as the lightning bolt symbol.

The man swallowed, staring at Wally with something akin to awe, "You're a speedster, too."

" _Too_?" Wally asked sharply, trying to figure out what was going on. He was already in a bad mood, shaky and off-center after the meeting with the Justice League. He did _not_ need this strange man making things worse for him.

The man shook his head, "Right, no, sorry. I'm sorry. I just… yeah, sorry. I'm a speedster. I got my powers about nine years ago, before all of the metahuman stuff started blowing up. I wanted to use my powers for good, be a superhero like all those other heroes, but the meta-hate campaigns became really heavy right when I was leaning towards the end of my training period. Any new heroes were being crucified. I'd seen some of them being killed because of what they were trying to do. So, I hid. I saved people when I could, but-,"

Wally cut him off, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that I'd asked for your life story. How did you find me?"

"Find you?" The man blinked, "You ran right past me. I'm a speedster too, remember? So, I watched you go by in normal time. I hadn't even realized that there were other speedsters out there. I had to follow you."

"You're a meta and you haven't heard of the Circus?" Wally asked incredulously.

The man's eyes about popped out of his head, "You're a part of the _Circus_? Seriously? That's insane! You look like you're just a kid!"

"Wait," Wally said, finally relaxing his defensive pose, putting one hand out in a stop motion, "Wait, I'm confused. You're confusing me. Let's go back to the life story real quick."

The man's brows furrowed, and he looked at Wally like _he_ was the crazy one. Nevertheless, the man continued his story, "I worked in the police department and they were one of the first to start testing their members. I was assigned to the metahuman hunting task force and they checked all of us. I realized that I couldn't stay there. My wife wouldn't be left behind, so we ran together. I've formed a group of metahumans. We've been trying to gather information on anti-metahuman forced around the world. We're getting info on how the camps are run, on the experiments that our country and other countries perform on metas. We're going to expose everything!"

"You're that deep into the meta underground and you don't recognize me? Most of the meta underground whether they've interacted with the Circus or not at the _very least_ has a basic understanding of what abilities are in the Circus. You seriously didn't know?" Wally asked incredulously. He immediately followed up the question with another question, "And why haven't I heard about you? It sounds like you've been doing this for _years_. _What is going on_? Who even _are you_?"

"Oh, right!" The man exclaimed, rubbing at the back of his neck in exactly the same way Wally always had, "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm the Flash. That's my codename or whatever. But you can call me Barry. Barry Allen. Speedsters got to stick together, right?"

Wally couldn't respond, his entire world falling out from underneath him. Barry Allen.

Barry Allen.

Wally knew a Barry Allen. His Uncle Barry who he rarely got to see, but who had been really nice in the times he'd seen him. His Uncle Barry who was married to the head-strong, stubborn, totally in love Aunt Iris. His Uncle Barry who was a forensic scientist – aka, worked in the police department.

Wally's mouth dropped open, " _Uncle Barry_?"

The man (Uncle Barry?) flinched back, eyes widening dramatically. His own mouth fell open and he almost shrieked, " _Wally_!"

" _Uncle Barry!_ " Wally cried, falling back onto his haunches and clutching his hair in his hands again. He hissed to himself, " _What_ is going _on_?"

"Oh my God!" Uncle Barry was repeating to himself, hands clutched in his own hair, but still standing. He kept repeating it to himself, eyes still blown wide and shocked, "Oh my _God_."

Wally gave up and plopped down on the grass, "Why is this my _life_?"

Barry laughed, a little hysterical at the edges, "What are the odds we'd both end up speedsters even though we're only related by law, not blood?"

"Uncle _Barry_ ," Wally repeated to himself one last time, more than a little mind blown.

"Wait, wait. My turn. Do I get your life story?" Barry asked, sitting across from Wally on the grass.

"No. Nope. Never," Wally answered, drawing himself back. This didn't mean anything. Just because they were related didn't mean a thing. Barry had put together a group of information seeking metahumans that have been active and completely hidden for _years_. He could be dangerous. Wally hated himself for being so suspicious.

Barry seemed a little surprised by the quick shut down, "Oh, um… okay. So, the Circus?"

"Let's just say that we've got more in common than being speedsters. I started the Circus about a year ago after we escaped from the camp we'd been in," Wally answered, finally starting to calm down. This was common knowledge among the metahuman underground. He had no idea why Barry hadn't already heard about this. Maybe that was why Barry's group had lasted so long: they kept themselves so isolated that no one even knew to go after them.

There was something dark and _sad_ in Barry's voice when he choked out, "Camp? You were in a camp? Wally, I told you that we're getting information and proof on what they do in the camps. I know what happens in them. You… how long were you in there?"

Wally just… he shut down. This wasn't show and tell. This wasn't some fated meeting that ended in sob stories and dramatic hugs. This was the real world. His jaw clenched, and he answered, "That's none of your business. Look, Uncle Barry. I don't know you. You and Aunt Iris disappeared, what? Eight years ago? I was _seven_ when you left. I didn't even properly know that you were gone! My parents wouldn't tell me anything about the metahuman epidemic or whatever. It's been eight years since we've seen each other, and I don't know about you, but I'm not the same kid that I was back then. I do not know you. I don't know your organization. I'm not going to put my team at risk because of some familial ties we have and a vague memory of you when I was a child."

Barry's eyes were wide, a shocked expression on his face, "Oh… okay. I get it. No, I really do! You're right, we can't just go back to where we were before. We need to get to know each other again. I was just… so… shocked to see someone from before this whole mess. And especially to see the nephew that always adored me!" He finished with a light, teasing grin.

Wally's own lips tilted slightly in response, remembering himself when he was that age, "You're the reason I got into science. I thought science was so cool because my awesome Uncle Barry did science."

Barry's smile folded into something gentler and infinitely fond, "Yeah? Well, I'm glad I left an impact on you before I went away. If… if there was any way I could have known that you were going to end up like me, I would have taken you with me. I should have taken you with me anyways. I just… no, I wouldn't have done it. You were such a cute little kid and I couldn't put you on the run like that."

Wally rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, sighing, "Doesn't matter now." They sat in silence for a moment before Wally frowned thoughtfully, "This is completely random and out of the blue, but do you have any people in Australia?" He was remembering news of a metahuman group that was completely unknown joining up with the Light. They had been based in Australia. It was a long shot, but…

Barry peered at Wally suspiciously, "We might have sent a couple people over there recently, why?"

"Fifteen of them?" Wally asked curiously.

Barry's eyebrows rose, "Now I'm definitely concerned. How do you know all of that?"

"They joined the Light," Wally explained.

"Yeah, we sent them undercover there. This isn't explaining how you know all of this," Barry threw back, eyebrows drawn together on his forehead.

Wally shook his head. This was unbelievable. He sighed, "I've got someone undercover in the Light, too. They told me that fifteen metas from a previously unknown group in Australia had just joined the Light."

"Wait," Barry held up a hand, "Are you saying you've got _one single person_ in the Light? You sent someone in alone?"

"We always send them in alone. The Circus's attack team isn't all that big, Uncle Barry. There's only so many people we can put undercover. And by so many, I mean one. You have to do what you have to do," Wally explained, a little confused about why Barry was so upset.

"Wally, I just told you that I put _fifteen_ people undercover into the Light! _Fifteen_! And you only put one person!" Barry tried to argue.

"Again, we only have so many people! There are only eight of us!" Wally threw back.

Barry let out a breathless sort of laugh, "Only eight? Wow. Although I never got the details about the Circus, - you guys seemed to be doing good things, so there was no need to investigate you – I've heard people talking about the Circus and what they've done. You guys have pulled off some incredible things. And you only have eight members?"

Wally shifted uncomfortably, "You know, a lot of meta underground groups only have a handful of people. It's hard to find people willing to fight. We ran into a group just the other day that had less members than us."

Barry's face did a weird spasm, but he didn't say anything, instead seeming to prefer lapsing into silence. Wally followed suit.

There was a long moment between them. It wasn't quite stilted, but it wasn't quite comfortable either. Finally, Barry blew out a breath, pulling his knees up and dropping his chin onto them, "Look, kiddo. You've obviously been through a lot. Definitely more than me-,"

Wally interrupted him again, "There's no 'more than' or 'less than' when it comes to trauma. Trauma is trauma and it all sucks and no one likes it." It was one of the founding principles of not only the Circus, but the city they created. It didn't matter how bad you considered your trauma in terms of other people's. All that mattered was that it was trauma and it's hurting you. Wally had always been a firm believer in that. Especially when he realized that some of his team members hadn't been coming to him or Cameron about their problems because him and Cameron had been in the camps longer and therefore 'had it worse.'

Barry smiled, bright and sincere, "Yeah, I guess so. Anyways, I realize that we've both been through a lot and, like you said, we aren't the same people we were years ago. But I really hope that we can reconcile and become… I don't know, a family again. I know that sounds cheesy. And, to start that off, I'd like to introduce you to my family. My team, the people who run my organization with me. You can see your Aunt Iris again."

It was tempting. And there were reasons Wally should say no: he had a budding alliance to work out, he had a team to take care of, he had a city to help, he had people to rescue, he had an organization to dismantle. He didn't have _time_ for a new metahuman group. He didn't have time to rekindle familial relationships. He didn't have the emotional energy to rekindle them.

At the same time, there were reasons Wally should say yes: this was a huge underground meta group with _fifteen_ spies in the Light. Wally actually kind of wanted to create that relationship with his family, the only ones left that would accept him. He needed to learn more about his powers and Barry had been a speedster for two years more than Wally had. The information he could gain would be astronomical. They could avoid future misunderstandings.

Which overcame the other? Were the pros more beneficial or the cons more harmful? Wally tapped a finger against his thigh absentmindedly. Wait! He could at the very least protect a part of the alliance. If he asked permission from his co-leader, then he could use this as an outing for the alliance.

Wally said, "Give me a second to check with me team." Barry nodded amicably, and Wally put a finger to his comm piece, activating it, "Hey, Icicle, you there?"

" _Yeah, what's up?_ " Cameron's voice filtered back through.

"Are you with my temporary co-leader still?" Wally asked. He almost said Aqualad before he remembered that they didn't want anyone to know that the Team and the Circus had teamed up. That was still strictly need-to-know information and Barry really did not need to know.

Cameron's voice was confused when he answered, " _Yes?_ "

"Can you give him the comms for a moment or something. I need to talk to him," Wally explained.

He could hear Cameron narrowing his eyes over the comms, " _You and I are talking about this when you get back. But yeah, just give me a second._ "

The next voice that spoke over the comms was Aqualad, " _Supersonic. Is there something you need?_ "

"Hey, I'm with the leader of another underground metahuman group and they're offering to bring me to meet their team. Am I good to go do that real quick?" Wally asked.

Aqualad paused before asking hesitantly, " _Why would you ask my permission for such a thing?_ "

"I've been gone a lot recently and I know that our groups are on shaky ground anyways. I don't want to bail if you think I need to spend more time with the team." Wally explained. He kind of felt bad leaving the team with Aqualad so often, but it wasn't his fault he was so busy!

" _That is alright with me. Do you know when you will return?_ " Aqualad questioned back, voice smoother now that he apparently understood what was going on.

"No clue, sorry. Thanks for being cool about all this. I'll try to be back sometime tonight. Supersonic out." Wally said, turning off the comms after Aqualad signed off as well.

He turned back to Barry, "I guess I'm good to meet your team."

"I want to ask about this temporary co-leader thing, but based on how closed lipped you seem to be about a lot of things, I'm not even going to try," Barry admitted with a smile. Wally ducked his head like he used to when he was little and trying not to smile too much in front of his parents. Barry reached out as if to ruffle Wally's hair, but pulled back before he actually made contact. Wally wasn't sure if he was disappointed or not. Barry stood up, "Alright then, ready to go meet my team?"

"Ready," Wally nodded.

And then they were off.

It was the most peculiar feeling, running with someone else. That feeling of the Speed Force building up in his veins, raging like fire under his skin, an electrical storm that couldn't be harnessed? That feeling spun between the two of them as they ran, charging each other, feeding each other. It was the greatest kind of lightning, uncaged, unfettered, free to _fly_.

They were both smiling when they finally stopped running somewhere in France. They glanced at each other with wide, bright, startled eyes. Barry laughed, "Well, I wasn't expecting _that_!"

"We really, _really_ need to compare notes about our abilities," Wally said, eyes shining like they hadn't in a long time. Running had always been his freedom. In a life where his ability to run had only been allowed when it was beneficial to the camp scientists, the need to run was almost endless. If he wasn't running, he always felt like something was missing. Maybe that was the way he lived in those camps. Maybe it was an integral part of their speed. Maybe Wally would never know. But here was someone else with the same powers as him, someone he already knew, someone he was planning on creating a working relationship with. Someone else who could understand the thrill of running.

Barry started to lead the way into the compound, a huge, flat building that spanned acres. Barry was explaining, "This was an old military base. Maybe World War I, maybe World War II. I'm not sure of the specifics. They designed it to be especially confusing, so it took us a while to get used to it. People would actually get lost in the depths of it when there were less people. Now, we've got departments in a good portion of the building, so if you get lost, there's someone who can point you in the right direction. If you're a member, of course. If you're a guest or an intruder, then you're told to wait while a higher-up comes to collect you. That's what you are currently – a guest. So, uh, try not to memorize routes?"

"Really?" Wally asked incredulously, but he dutifully kept his eyes either on Barry's back or on the ground. Honestly, he was impressed by the set up. This was a perfect place to put a massive organization like this. He asked curiously, "How did you get the building?"

Barry's voice was shifty when he responded, "We might know someone, who knows someone, who knows an important French government official who might oversee protection and allocation of historical buildings."

Well, knowing someone who knows someone seemed like a valuable thing in an underground group dedicated to information gathering, so Wally wasn't going to judge. It was almost like Barry was afraid that Wally was going to judge him for participating in something that was practically illegal. Which was ridiculous.

Barry continued his speech, "We've got bases in a lot of countries and at least one representative for each department is at each base. This is our largest and our home base and it's where the most members are located. Not everyone lives here. There's a good portion of people who have normal lives or, at the very least, have families that have normal lives who support them when they're not at the base. We employ humans and metahumans equally. I mean, Iris and I were the ones who founded it and we're a human and metahuman couple, so it seems ridiculous that we'd discriminate, you know? We've got a health department, a food department, transportation, technology, undercover, diplomatic, housing, and coordination department. We try to be a strictly non-violent group. If necessary, we are trained to protect ourselves and others, but again, we try to avoid it. We do this partially because we're trying to promote peace and partially because we want to avoid attention currently. We gather the intel, we get it out to the public, then we watch the organization topple. For all that a lot of humans have a lot against us, they're still fair and understanding. It's not their fault that they were thrust into this situation. We just have to show them the damage that's being done."

"Is this the spiel you give new recruits?" Wally teased. Barry rolled his eyes. Scoffing lightly, Wally said, "But, being serious right now: why haven't you released anything about the camps?" It hurt to think about the camps and it hurt worse to talk about them, but it was what needed to be done.

Expression falling a little bit, Barry winced, "We really do try our best to save everyone, but it's not always possible. In the seven years that the camps have been open, there have been – to our knowledge – only eight successful escapes. I'm assuming you're one of them?"

Wally nodded slowly, "Yeah, and I know three of the others."

"Seriously?" Barry asked, turning slightly to face Wally, "Wow. I guess you guys band together or whatever. We don't have any that escaped camps in our group. And since it's so ridiculously hard and the conditions, from what we've been able to tell from afar, are so awful, we don't feel comfortable putting our people into the camps, even to get information." Wally wanted to sneer. 'Awful?' The camps were _awful_. That was putting it very, _very_ mildly.

"Yeah, I get that," Wally admitted, voice quiet.

Barry frowned, "I'll bet you do." He sounded infinitely sad again.

Wally changed the subject, "So, you really have humans working here? What's the human to metahuman ratio?"

Tilting his head back and squinting his eyes, Barry guessed, "Probably one metahuman to every three humans. I don't know. Something like that."

"Wait, you have more humans than metahumans?" Wally stared at him in shock. The idea was completely foreign to him. Humans gathering in such large quantities to _help_ metas? How was that possible?

"Well, yeah. I mean, there are a lot more humans in the world than there are metahumans. It makes sense statistically. Why so shocked? Don't you work with humans?" Barry explained, scratching at the back of his neck and staring down at Wally with concern.

"Maybe some human _benefactors_ , but nothing else. If there are humans willing to help us, they prefer to be distanced from the situation. But we don't let any humans join our ranks. And there are no humans with the auxiliary members either," Wally answered, shaking his head in wonder. Humans, willing to work this closely with metahumans. The idea was ludicrous.

Except, Barry was looking at Wally like _he_ was the insane one, "I'm going to assume that the auxiliary members are the metas you've saved and who never really popped back up in the public eye?" Wally nodded, and Barry shook his own head in wonder, "No humans. Even with benefactors, though, that would be so difficult! Metahumans have zero resources. Once they run, everything is frozen out. They have whatever they can carry on their backs. How do you run an organization like that? And a lot of metas can't get jobs because more and more workplaces are screening for metas. Most metas didn't finish out their education, so practical skills are limited. You have a lot of people with a lot of different powers gathered together where one single person going off could start a chain reaction. How do you _do_ that?"

Wally shrugged uncomfortably, "You and I started our organizations at different times. When you started yours, the world was just starting to really _notice_ metahumans. I think humans were a lot more willing to join up with metahumans at that time. And as time went on, humans would continue to join because there were a lot of humans in your group. Now, though? With metahuman hate running so deeply? There's no way a human would join up with a metahuman." Well, that obviously wasn't true based on Wally's own temporary alliance, but still. The point still stood.

Honestly, he couldn't imagine things being any different. This was just what he'd always had to work with. Besides, as much as he understood that hating humans was wrong, it would be a long time before the part of him that was afraid of humans would go away. Because that kind of fear doesn't go away that quickly.

Barry frowned, "Yeah, I guess so." He still looked uncomfortable with the idea of Wally running his organization without humans. Whatever. Each to their own, right?

All of a sudden, Barry stopped. Bemused, Wally realized that he really would have zero clue where he was going if he suddenly tried to get back to the front. Then again, with how fast he ran, it wouldn't be _too_ bad. Still, there were a lot of turns and not a lot of room to gain speed.

Opening a door, Barry stuck his head inside, "Hey guys! I brought someone to come see you!"

"Who could you have possibly brought?" A male voice called back, obviously confused.

Barry grinned and motioned towards Wally with a sweep of his arm. Together, they walked into the room.

 **Author's Note: Barry's team next chapter! Just to let you know, I'm probably going to start doing my updates during the week? Like, probably Thursday, Friday range, but it's just easier now that I'm in college. Probably. We'll see. I'm still trying to work out my schedule. Six more reviews for another chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: Here we go with another chapter! Barry's team! Yay! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **HI – Haha, pulling in some CW Flash, are you? Honestly, I'm beginning this chapter with only one person for sure going to be a member of the group, so who knows. We might pull in some CW Flash membership. Thanks for the review!**

 **Anett** **-** **¡Me alegro de que te guste! Estoy realmente emocionado de incluir a Barry en la historia también. ¡Amo tanto a su personaje! Gracias por revisar!**

 **Guest – Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

"You brought us a kid?" A man's voice asked disdainfully, a disgusted expression taking over his lithe features.

The man who'd spoken before sighed, "Did you kidnap him? Do we need to go take him back to his parents?"

"No," another man breathed, hair hanging long and shaggy around his shoulders, "Look at that suit. This one has superpowers!"

"That doesn't mean that he doesn't need to go home to his family," A woman with chestnut hair sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Wally was almost overwhelmed in the conversation that washed over him, new people talking about him as if he wasn't there. The only thing that kept him centered, that kept him from bolting out of the room, was the wash of fiery red hair directly in front of him, huge emerald eyes settled over a delicate nose and a gaping mouth. Iris whispered, " _Wally_?"

The rest of the room fell silent, turning their heads between Barry's beaming smile and Iris's shock. More than a little self-conscious, Wally rubbed the back of his neck, waving with his other hand, "Hi Aunt Iris." Honestly, he was a little impressed that Iris had been able to recognize him. Barry certainly hadn't recognized him with his cowl up. Somehow, though, Iris had been able to recognize Wally with his eyes and most of his face covered and eight years older than the last time she'd seen him. Was that what they called a woman's intuition?

Iris let out a little sob, holding her hand over her mouth, " _Wally_!" The other occupants of the room were thoroughly confused now, glancing at Wally with suspicion written over their features.

Swallowed harshly, Iris blinked back tears and held out her arms, "Can I… can I hug you?"

Wally's shoulders tensed slightly. He didn't really _do_ hugs. The closest anyone would get was Cameron's one-armed momentary hug things. That was it. But… maybe for his Aunt Iris he could. Just the once. Cautiously, Wally walked up to her (he was just a hint taller than her now, which felt more than a little weird. Had he really grown that much?) and tucked himself into her arms the way he used to. It wasn't quite right, and he didn't fit the same, and there was this lingering sense of touch-is-wrong-don't-hurt-me, but… it felt good. Wally didn't think he'd do it again for a long time, but it felt good.

After a few seconds, though, he untangled himself from her arms, not quite willing to stay in her embrace for much longer. Shifting slightly, Wally waved to the other people in the room, "So, I'm Wally as I'm sure you've gathered. I'd say you'd probably know me better as Supersonic, but that didn't seem to work with Barry, so probably not."

But the long-haired guy's expression lit up like Christmas had come early, " _Supersonic_? Seriously? Guys. _Guys_! This is Supersonic! He led the single largest camp breakout in the history of the camps! He's the leader of the Circus!"

Barry pouted, "How come you know this and I don't?"

"Because you don't have to go through every little bit of technological information that we receive." The long-haired man pouted back. Wally had to resist shifting closer to Iris and therefore farther from the long-haired man.

To avoid the intense stare the chestnut-haired woman behind the long-haired man was giving him, Wally turned his head to look to the side. And came face to face with someone's head. And only their head.

Yelping, Wally scrambled back, across the room in less than a picosecond, hand clutching his heart. Now that he was further away, he saw that the head was attached to a long mass of _skin_ that was apparently someone's neck? He followed the neck (?) back to the man who had originally spoken when Wally was still out in the hallway. Okay, that was weird. Wally tried not to be judgmental of other people's powers, but that was weird.

The stretchy man's eyebrows raised almost off his forehead (and Wally meant that much more literally than he _ever_ wanted to in his life) as he turned to Barry, "You found another speedster?"

"Okay," Barry said, chuckling a little bit, "This didn't quite go as planned. Let's start this over again. Everyone, this is my nephew, Wally. He's Iris's brother's son. He has superspeed. He is Supersonic and has done those things that Cisco said. I just happened to see him running past me and I had to follow. I hadn't even realized that he was my nephew until he recognized my name. I brought him here after that. Wally, this is Julian," he pointed to the lean faced man who had been offended at being brought a kid, "and this is Caitlin," the woman smiled and gave a pretty little wave, "next to her is Ronnie," a nice man with his hand around the woman's waist smiled and nodded, "and next to _him_ is Stein," this was an elderly man who was leaning back against a table, "and Cisco," that was the long-haired man, "and last but not least, Patrick." The final one was the stretchy guy.

Barry gestured to the group, "I'll let them further introduce themselves."

Julian rolled his eyes, but said, "I'm in charge of Coordination here. I also go by Doctor Alchemy, but I try to avoid being him as often as possible. I'm human, but I've got an artefact that gives me powers."

Caitlin smiled, "Julian and I have in common that we don't really like becoming our alter egos. I go by Killer Frost. I'm a meta. I'm in charge of the Health Department, which is also the science group."

"I'm Caitlin's husband, also a meta, and Stein and I make up Firestorm. I'm in charge of Transportation," Ronnie said, smiling down at his wife. Wally wasn't entirely certain what he meant when he said 'Stein and I' made up Firestorm. What was a Firestorm and why did it require two people? And why were Caitlin and Julian so against their 'alter egos?'

Stein sniffed and said, "Well, I am in charge of the Food Department. I'm actually quite an excellent cook, you see. And, as Ronald said, together we make Firestorm, so, obviously, I am also a metahuman. I also dabble in the science department."

Iris added in quickly, "I run Housing. Human!"

Cisco bowed a little bit and said, "I am the lord and master of all things technological. I'm also the resident engineer, genius, etc. I go by Vibe on missions. I'm a metahuman."

Patrick grinned at him, "Plastic Man's the name. Obviously a meta. I'm in charge of Undercover. Well, Barry is officially head of Diplomacy, but the two of us kind of share both Undercover and Diplomacy."

Wally narrowed his eyes at Barry, "You said that you have roughly a three to one ratio of humans to metahumans, but your leadership group is almost entirely metas."

Barry blinked at him, then shrugged, unconcerned, "Coincidence?" Wally frowned.

Barry opened his mouth to say something, but Iris beat him to it, "So what is this Circus group? I don't think I've heard about it. I might remember the name being mentioned, but I think it was decided that they weren't a threat."

Wally grimaced, "We aren't _meant_ to be a threat to other meta underground groups as long as the groups aren't hurting anyone. We're only meant to be a threat to people who are hurting metas. Basically, when I escaped camp with the other eight members of the main Circus team, I decided I was going to create a group that would save metahumans. The people that escaped with me decided that they would join me while I was at it. This was about a year ago. Right now, we're working on dismantling the Light. I've got someone in the Light right now."

"Wait, you have _one person_ in the Light?" Patrick asked, horrified.

"Yes, yes, I know!" Wally exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, "I already had this argument with Uncle Barry. There are _not_ enough of us to spare more than one person undercover." The group stared at him with horror. Wally resisted the urge to throw his arms in the air again.

Julian had narrowed his eyes, "The Circus is the group who'll go to a place that's enslaving metahumans and humans and then only take the metahumans with them, right?" His voice was accusing. Iris's eyes widened, and she looked at Wally, something like hurt in her eyes.

Wally refused to feel the curl of guilt gathering in his chest, "That's right."

"But, why?" Iris asked, voice sounding so hurt.

Wally sighed harshly, running a hand through his hair, "I seem to be answering this question a lot lately. What else am I supposed to do? The humans don't want to be rescued by metas. Do you know I watched a human break the arm of one of my teammates because he'd rather die in the hole he was in than be rescued by Changeling? Besides, I don't have anywhere to bring them to recover. The metas I save aren't always the keenest on humans. I can't bring the humans to a place that I swear is safe for the metahumans I've rescued because, for a lot of metas, a place isn't really safe if there are humans in it."

"Do you believe that too?" Caitlin asked softly.

Lips twitching into a deeper frown, Wally shrugged, "I mean, I know I can protect myself if a human comes at me, so I know that a place is safe if there are humans there. I don't hate humans or anything like that. There's nothing wrong with humans. I just can't help but be scared of them a little bit. After the camps…" Wally trailed off, not really willing to go into detail and knowing that he didn't need to.

Iris was giving him a tragic look from off to the side, expression simultaneously fierce. Good to know she was just as determined to protect her family as she'd been all those years ago.

Sensing the rising awkwardness in the room after Wally's impromptu revelation, Caitlin tried for another smile, "Well, welcome to our little group! It really is nice to meet you. Barry and Iris have told us a little bit about their little nephew, but you've obviously changed a lot over the years. Are you still interested in science?"

"Of course," Wally scoffed, working with her to try to keep the tone light.

Cisco's head perked up, "Why didn't you start with that? We've got all sorts of awesome science people in here! I mean, I'm obviously the best, but- Ow!" Cisco cried, grabbing at the head that Barry had just slapped.

Barry pouted, "I'm obviously the best! C'mon man, let me have my own nephew!"

Cisco pouted right back, "You get everyone else! Everyone is like, ooh, look at Barry, he's so smart and nice and kind! I want your nephew!"

Sending a quick look at Iris and realizing that she still had something of a tragic expression on her face, Wally commented idly, "In case anyone was wondering about my opinion, I choose Aunt Iris."

Iris laughed out loud, eyes shining and bright, "And that's the right choice."

Barry sighed, "I can't argue with that. I'd pick Iris too."

Cisco narrowed his eyes at Iris and drew his finger across his neck, "I'm going to get him to come to my side."

"I dare you to try," Iris sent back, narrowing her own emerald eyes back at him. Wally soaked in the comfortable feeling of a group of people who had been through thick and thin with each other, surviving a world that would condemn them just for existing. Well, some of them. In a way, that made the moment even more beautiful. They were so close even though some were humans and some were metahumans. For Wally and the world he grew up in, seeing something like this was like a dream come true. It was more than he could have ever imagined happening. Humans and metahumans on equal footing, leading an organization to help _people_ all over the world.

In a way, this was what Wally was kind of hoping for with the alliance that he built with the Team. Through the hard work they'd go through together and the successful destruction of the Light, there was a chance that the Team would see metahumans for what they were. They'd see that metahumans don't deserve the treatment they'd been getting. They'd work to help the Circus and other underground metahuman groups to free themselves and the others in the camps. From the things that Wally had experienced, the things he's seen in his life, that dream seemed so far away, so hopeless. He'd witnessed, _experienced_ , so many atrocities against his kind. How could the humans possibly move past that, move past what they had done, what they had thought? How could they all work together and live in a world of freedom for everyone?

And yet, right there in front of him was the evidence that his dream could come true, that he and the rest of the Circus could really change the hearts and the minds of the Team and free metahumans. It would, obviously, take a long time to break down the distrust between the two species, but it would be worth it. And, maybe, it wouldn't be as long as Wally had thought. This organization that his Uncle was leading was proof that there were plenty of humans out there that were more than willing to accept metahumans and help them out of the place they found themselves in.

As Wally watched the humans and metahumans in the room walk and talk around and with each other, he felt something in him settle. There was hope for the future yet.

 **Author's Note: I'm so sorry this is so short. I really, really didn't want to end it here, but my laptop is nearly having a heart attack at literally every single thing, so I was skeptical on if I'd even be able to finish this chapter by the end of the weekend if I tried to get everything I wanted in it. Hopefully I'll get the laptop fixed sometime this weekend. If not, who knows. I'm about at my wit's end with the thing. Anyways, rant over, hope you enjoyed the chapter anyways! Thanks for reading and I'm going to ask for two more reviews for another chapter!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: Here's another chapter! Oh, and I got my computer back up and running again, so yay! Alright, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Anett** **-** **¡Me encanta el grupo de Barry también! Son muy divertidos de escribir. ¡Gracias como siempre por la revisión!**

 **HI – Haha, I don't think I will ever write a story without Patrick anymore. I love him so much! Thanks for the review!**

 **Cat – Will do! I don't know when he'll pop up, but he'll definitely show at some point or another! Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Wally hadn't exactly fallen into this new group like a long-lost relative would in the movies or in books, but it was a close thing. The way that this team – this enormous team that boasted hundreds upon hundreds of members across the world – acted together, like one huge family, was a little like people acted in the city Wally built. Everyone was there for each other and everyone knew each other. Trauma was shared among them, but so was love and loyalty. In Wally's city, each person in there would die for the others, no matter what kind of arguments they got into or what kind of disagreements they had. That same kind of feeling permeated the military base that Wally was in.

It was in the colorful murals splattered over a lot of the walls. It was in the brightly decorated doors of the rooms where people could stay overnight. It was in the smiles on each person's face as they walked by in outfits ranging from suits to fancy dresses to casual to pajamas to activewear.

Wally's head was practically on swivel as they walked, and he knew that it was amusing to the other members. He asked curiously, "I know you said that not everyone lived here, but do a lot of people live on base?"

"No, not really. Not even Iris and I live here. We've got a house nearby under fake names. That's how most of us do it, if we even need fake names. Like I said earlier, a lot of us have normal jobs in addition for this. The dorms are just here for people who need to stay the night for a project, or who are recovering from something, or just want some away time from their families. Sometimes, when people are on the run from the Collection Agency or whatever it's called in other countries, they'll lay low here for a while before we get them settled somewhere. Does the Circus all live together?" Barry answered, finishing off with a question of his own.

Inwardly twitching a little bit at giving away information even if this was relatively well known, Wally answered, "Yeah, we all live in our headquarters together. Or, occasionally, a safehouse that closer to the mission or whatever."

"Those must be pretty big safehouses," Ronny mused.

Tilting his head to the side, Wally asked, "Why? I mean, yeah there are eight of us, but we share rooms."

Ronny blinked at him, "What about the others? Aren't there people who you rescue who stay with you? I thought I heard something about there being a lot of metahumans who go with you and then aren't seen again. I guess people just assumed that they joined the Circus."

"Oh," Wally said with dawning understanding. The people who lived in the city. He'd asked the people who lived in the city if they wanted the metahuman underground to know about them and they'd all said no. That city for metahumans was as far removed from everything as Wally could possibly make it. As far as he knew, the only people who knew about the city were the Circus members and the people of Gorilla City who had helped Wally build the city. Well, and now the Light knew. Barry knew that there were auxiliary Circus members who were the people that were rescued, but he didn't know about the city. Wally finished lamely with, "Yeah, them."

The group was staring at him. Julian huffed, " _Yeah_ , them. So? Where do they go?"

Wally glared at him, "That's none of your business."

"We're just two underground metahuman groups. Why wouldn't it be our business? We could start a program to get metahumans to safety wherever you're keeping these people," Julian protested, a frown on his face.

Wally sent him a straight look, "Then you can come to me and I'll arrange it."

"That sounds inconvenient at best. And being in charge of coordination, I would know." Julian shot back.

Wally raised an eyebrow, "The safety of people who have trusted their lives to me is ' _inconvenient at best_?'"

Julian smirked, and Wally was left mentally flailing. With one last smug look, Julian announced, "I rather like you. I didn't really mean all that I said."

Squinting his eyes, Wally muttered, "This day is just confusion after confusion." The group laughed.

Ronnie looked at him over Caitlyn's shoulder, "So, what's leading the Circus like? What's the team like?"

For a moment, Wally inwardly panicked, thinking that Ronnie had meant 'the Team' instead of 'the team' as in Wally's team. Once again, he cursed the Team for having such a stupid name. Who on earth thought that had been a good idea? He shrugged a little bit and answered, "Stressful, mainly. I mean, we all help each other out, but there are a whole lot more kids in the Circus than there are adults. We have a limited amount of knowledge of the practical skills like financials and, well, cooking and running a household and _being adults_. Only Black Canary had a really good fighting foundation. But she's awesome at it and she's been doing her best to teach us, too. Living together was a challenge at first. I think we're finally starting to smooth ourselves out on that range. I mean, with all of us fresh out of the camps, there were a lot of frayed nerves and people weren't too fond of, well, other people. But I think we've got ourselves together quite a bit. We're all family now. And there are still fights and all that, but we've got a system in place. And Maser, Changeling, and I have learned how to cook, so that's good for that. Black Canary and Ballistic work together to grow a lot of the food we eat when we can be there to take care of the food. Icicle and Firehawk have got the financials pretty much down. We all add our own little bit to making sure that living together is as comfortable as it can be." He didn't realize he was rambling until he stopped and looked up to see the adults around him giving him looks that were simultaneously sad and smothering. That kind of look that you give a sad, but really, really cute puppy. Wally did not appreciate the look he was getting.

Barry gave him a little wistful smile, "You really did build your own little family with this group, didn't you?"

Wally nodded back before shrugging slightly again, "Well, you did the same with this group, didn't you?"

"Like uncle, like nephew," Iris teased, her hand slipping into Barry's and squeezing gently. Wally ducked his head.

"So, tour's over, kiddo. What's next?" Patrick asked, head tilted so it was almost entirely flopped over onto his neck. His powers were really going to take a while to get used to.

Frowning, Wally wrinkled his nose, "I don't know. Where do you guys want this to go? It would be beneficial if we could get some kind of information trade between us, especially with our interests in the Light, but I'm not sure how strong of an alliance I can promise. We just rescued a new underground meta group recently and I'm also trying to form a strong alliance with another team. As in, we're living in the same headquarters and I'm sharing leadership with their leader. So, I'm swamped right now. I can get Icicle and Maser to help facilitate the information exchange and we can work with just that until the Light is taken down and then we can work towards a stronger alliance. This is all, of course, unofficial musing. I need to talk to my team about all of this before I can commit to any sort of agreement between us. I think they should be fine with what I've said, but I need to check. This is all going to be a lot of work for all of us." He sighed and briefly touched his finger to the bridge of his nose, "A lot of work."

Cisco snorted, "Anyone ever told you that you're too uptight?"

"Too often. You know, before I made the Light a priority, my team was pressuring me to go on a vacation?" Wally shook his head.

Barry smiled softly at him, "Well, maybe after this whole mess is over, you all can go on vacation. I'm good with what you said if the rest of them are. I can get you something to use to communicate with us while we're figuring out this arrangement. Um, we don't know whatever other group you're working with, but we'd like it if they knew as little about us as possible. I can excuse you and the rest of the Circus knowing about us because you're family, but anyone else is too much. We survive on anonymity."

"Yeah, I get that. They won't be happy, but it's fine. They should be used to us keeping secrets by now," Wally said, only a little bit bitterly, only a little bit frustrated. Barry smiled at him in commiseration.

Iris said softly, "It really was so good to see you, Wally. Any chance you get to come visit, please try. We'll always be happy to see you." Wally surprised himself by readily ( _excitedly_ ) saying that he would try. There was a weird mixture of feelings inside him that were making him feel weird about his excitement. On the one hand, he remembered Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry with a lot of fondness. He was pretty sure the highlight of every year was visiting them. His parents had never told him that Barry and Iris had disappeared the year before he'd gotten his own powers. There was a little part of him that felt like they'd abandoned him, left him alone with his parents to be put in those camps. He tried to push that part away. Blaming people wasn't going to help anyone. There was another part of him, larger than it should be, that felt mainly guilty. Who was he to get these amazing people back in his life when most of his team had no one to go back to or couldn't go back to them without putting anyone in danger?

Lorraine loved her father despite their arguments and was probably never going to see him again. Kelvin had left elderly parents in a senior living home and had no way of knowing if they were dead or alive, or if they were even still in the senior living home without him to pay for it. Cameron never wanted to see his father again and was content to leave him to rot in jail. He had no one else. Garfield was all alone. Harold's parents had disappeared pretty soon before he'd been taken into the camps and there was always a rocky relationship with his cousins. Jinx never said much about her past, but they all knew that there was no one to return to with her. Dinah was an orphan, only friends that would never know what happened to her. The spy had no one. And here Wally was, falling back into familial roles with his Aunt and Uncle? How was that fair to any of his team members?

He knew that it was different and that it was just a coincidence that this even happened, but he couldn't help but feel bad. Why should he get this when they deserved it so much more than he did? Whatever. He could deal with that internal crisis later. This wasn't the kind of breakdown a person had in front of relative strangers.

Instead, he just accepted the piece of paper that had the information needed to contact Barry's group from now on, numbly putting it into one of his arm compartments. Cisco's voice brought him out of his spiraling thoughts, "Who designs your suits?"

"Group effort? We each get a lot of input and Maser does the electronic work. Jinx and Changeling do a lot of the actual construction because Jinx can move stuff with her mind and Changeling can turn into really small creatures. Kelvin's actually the one who really does the in-depth design." Wally answered. Honestly, most things that the Circus did were group efforts. None of them really had strong enough skills in any area to do it by themselves, but they got by pretty well with the group of them working together. Sometimes, that didn't work so well. The saying 'too many cooks in the kitchen?' Definitely applied to things other than the kitchen.

Cisco nodded, an expression on his face that already told Wally that he was scheming something. Feeling something in his heart soften once again at the image this group portrayed – a group of humans and metas working together to make the world a better place for all of them, humans and metas as close as family, love more powerful than anything else – and the hope it gave him, Wally sent them a little salute and said, "Talk to you later."

And then, he _ran_.

There was, for a moment, a strong urge to just run somewhere to be by himself. To run and run and run and run until there was nothing but nature around him, the sky an open, endless world that, someday, he'd be able to run to. Wally wanted the world pounding away under his feet, cities falling behind him as he _ran_ , sound and color blurring into blissful obscurity around him. He wanted the Speed Force to thrum through his veins, telling him that he was _chosen_ , that the Speed Force would always want him, that he had a home to go to, that the Speed Force would never betray him, never leave him.

But, he had a team to return to, an alliance to work on, a correspondence to start with Barry's group, a traitor to ferret out, an intruder to deal with, a mysterious ability to use powers in a dead zone to investigate, an organization to take down. He didn't have time to take to himself. He'd already spent significantly too much time at Barry's headquarters. He'd need to return to the city, but he'd wait to do that until nightfall. He'd spend the rest of the evening with the team.

Sighing, Wally altered his course a little bit, aiming towards Louisiana. He was still bitter that they were stationed in Louisiana. It was _so far_ from his city. And yes, he understood that, as a speedster, it really wasn't that far for him, but still. It was the principle of the thing.

Skidding to a stop, Wally slid into the base, tripping a little bit on a carpet that had _not_ been there earlier in the day. Thankfully, no one had been in the main room when he'd done that. However, his little squeak of surprise drew the others into the room. Cameron peered around a wall, eyes narrowed slightly. He rolled his eyes when he saw who it was, stepping out fully, "Smooth, Superklutz."

"That carpet was _not_ there earlier," Wally hissed back.

"Going to tell us where you were?" Artemis asked, leaning back against another wall, scowl painted over her features, but an almost teasing glint in her eyes. Wally was glad that their talk really did seem to have smoothed over most of the problems in their relationship.

He tilted his head to the side for a second, thinking about how to answer that as the rest of the members of the team filtered in, "Hm… technically not? I was with another underground meta group. I can't give you any more information than that. Oh, they do have people in the Light and are willing to share information with us about that and anything else we may need. I've got the information to contact them."

"Another alliance?" Jinx sighed, leaning her head heavily back against the wall behind her. Zatanna shot her a small, hesitant smile.

"No!" Wally exclaimed, " _Not_ another alliance. At least, not yet. Right now, this is just information transfer. Basically, they're expecting the Circus and the mysterious other unnamed group that the Circus has allied itself with to do all the heavy lifting while they give us the tools to do it. After the whole Light fiasco is over, we might consider it."

Lorraine frowned, "We've never made an alliance before this and this is meant to only be a temporary alliance."

"That's true. I'll give you more details about why I want to consider going for an alliance when we're alone, okay?" Wally said, wincing a little bit when Superboy's lips dropped into a scowl. He really didn't _mean_ to keep information from them, but… he did what he had to.

Red Arrow asked sarcastically, "Do we get a name?" It was obvious that he didn't like the lack of information either. Wally wanted to throw his hands in the air in frustration.

Then he thought about the question. He blinked a little bit, "You know, I never actually asked for the name and they never offered it. Huh. I think I'll ask that next time I talk to them."

The expression on Red Arrow's face was pained, "If you didn't seem so honestly curious about their name, I would have thought that you were making that up to get me off your back. But no. You really didn't ask the name of the group you just spent the whole afternoon with." The pained expression increased.

Wally rolled his eyes, "It's not like it really matters all that much."

Cameron rolled his own eyes and muttered to Red Arrow and Robin, "See what I have to deal with?"

"You say that a lot, Icicle. Looking for a replacement for second in command?" Lorraine asked sweetly, grinning at him. Icicle rolled his eyes and pushed at her. For a brief second, her arms lit up in flames and she mimed pushing him back. Cameron narrowed his eyes and let icy wafts of air spiral off his own hands. After a second of staring at each other with narrowed eyes, they both broke the stare-off, breaking into identical grins.

"If you're both done being five-year-old children, can we move on?" Dinah asked pointedly. The two just turned their unrepentant grins onto her. She rolled her eyes.

Garfield put a hand in the air tentatively, "So, what _exactly_ are we moving on to?"

"I'd like to know that too," Wally stated.

"That's because you haven't been here hardly at all since this alliance started," Rocket accused before she paled a little bit, putting a hand up over her mouth, "Oh, uh. Sorry. Didn't mean to say that."

"Nah, you're good," Wally answered, "You're not wrong either. Sorry I've been so busy. I'm going to try to keep my outings to the nighttime, but people aren't always awake, then, so we'll see how I do." He shrugged again.

Robin turned to tease his own leader, "How come you're never that busy?"

Dinah interrupted before Aqualad could answer, "It's 'why', not 'how come.'" Robin blinked at her and Dinah blushed, "Sorry, habit."

"No problem," Robin said brightly, his own cheeks tinged a little pink.

Aqualad chuckled slightly, "I was rather hoping that we could go over information that we already have on the Light."

"Boring!" Robin announced, Zatanna nodding emphatically with him.

It was at that exact moment that an alarm started ringing. Robin cringed, "Not that boring. I take it back. I'm totally fine with talking about our information with the Light."

Harold gave him a very serious glance, "You have already jinxed us – no pun on Jinx's name intended – and you can't take it back now." Robin looked crushed.

Garfield raised his hand again, "Hey, where are we supposed to go when the alarm starts ringing like this?"

"The meeting room," Aqualad answered, already starting to lead them down to the room where Wally had had the disastrous meeting with the Justice League. He could already feel smothered anger resurfacing. Aqualad continued, "In normal situations, the League would enter the main room and tell us what the mission is, but the Team and the Justice League have agreed that, for the first week, there would be no League members here other than Red Tornado and only Batman assigns missions. Therefore, we are doing it over a screen rather than in person. After this week, if the alarm sounds, meet in the main room."

"Got it," Garfield responded, flashing a thumbs up.

They made it to the meeting room soon after that (Wally had resisted running there because he really wasn't in any sort of hurry to run into the Justice League after his last meeting with them). Batman was already there scowling at them by the time they all made it in there. Wally felt a reflexive scowl forming.

Batman started off immediately, "There is a situation that requires your attention. There is a metahuman resisting arrest. They were given an inhibitor collar, but it was ineffective, the same way that the metahuman at the Circus's… rehabilitation center was impervious to ability dampeners."

"Who's trying to arrest them and what's their crime?" Wally interrupted.

Batman sent him a dark look, but it wasn't really all that much darker than the look he was sending to the room as a whole, so Wally figured that he was good. Maybe. He probably wouldn't be killed in the middle of the night… hopefully.

Batman answered after a moment's pause, "As of the moment, there are only regular police officers on the scene. They sent out a distress signal and we received it first, assuring them that we will handle the situation."

Garfield's voice was small, his thin little green shoulders coming up around his ears, "So there won't be any Collection Agents there?"

For a long moment, Batman paused, sending Garfield a brief glance before turning his stare back onto Wally. Then, he spoke, "No. There won't be any Collection Agents there. The problem has fallen to us and it is within our purview to decide what to do with the metahuman that we apprehend."

"And if that something is letting the metahuman disappear with another metahuman group, probably never to be seen again," Wally tested carefully, eyes sharp under his goggles.

"As long as the League receives information about what allows the metahuman to be impervious to inhibitor collars, I don't see why that would be a problem," Batman responded evenly before growling, "None of that is going to matter if you don't go apprehend the metahuman. I have sent the coordinates to Robin." With that, he abruptly signed off, letting the screen go dark.

Wally blew out a breath of air, "I really hate that he wastes so much time trying to do long, dramatic pauses, but then complains that we aren't moving fast enough. Hypocrite." He shot a look at Robin, "Oh, uh, no offense?" Artemis and Red Arrow snorted off to the side before glaring darkly at each other. Wally gave them a wide berth as the group rushes towards the bioship (because apparently one meta requires a very large amount of people? If Wally was running this, he'd have two people on this, _max_. Does the Team really have nothing better to do with their time? Do they not have actual lives?).

Robin cackles in that weird, disturbing, _terrifying_ way and throws back, "No problem, Supersonic!"

They crowd onto the bioship and Wally watches with aw as the space shifts and ripples and settles into something sleeker, something large enough to fit all of them, chairs growing out of the floor. He ran a careful hand over one of the seats. This was his first time in the bioship and it was amazing.

Aqualad broke the moment, "Reports say that the metahuman is using some sort of electricity-based powers."

Wally chimed in, "We can send in Maser as damage control. His powers aren't lightning exactly, but they're energy based and have a lot in common with electricity. He can try to divert a lot of it."

Aqualad nodded to him, continuing the briefing, "He is surrounded by a police brigade, so any intervention from the Circus's side will have to be from the bioship. I will leave Miss Martian with the bioship to keep you suspended. Will Maser be able to do his part from the bioship?"

Harold nodded firmly, "I can do it."

"Alright," Aqualad said, voice calm and smooth and even, "I intend to send Rocket and Zatanna down. Zatanna will try to knock the perpetrator out and Rocket will keep the metahuman busy in the meantime." Both girls nodded seriously to him.

Aqualad turned to Wally. Shrugging, Wally faced this big, mixed up team, "You heard him. Let's catch this guy."

 **Author's Note: Yay, there we go! Chapter finished! So, hey, competition of a sorts! I am complete trash at coming up with names for things, so the next two chapters are going to be dedicated to whoever comes up with the best name for Wally's metahuman city and the best name for Barry's underground meta group. I look forward to your suggestions! Six more reviews for another chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: I've written so much fan fiction this week. This is what I aspire to in life. I wish I could write at least five chapters a week. That'd be gorgeous. Will also never happen. Anyways, this chapter will be dedicated to the person whose city name I chose, and next chapter will be dedicated to the person whose metahuman group name I chose. Okay, so this chapter is dedicated to VeronicaChase for the name Holo City! I don't know if this is how they meant it, but Holo means 'run' in Hawaiian (at least, that's one definition) and it is a root word that means 'whole, entire.' And I felt like both of those really fit the theme of the city. Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – That would be amusing, but I'm going to have to say no :P Thanks for the review and the suggestion!**

 **HI – Haha, I relate to that! That's why I always have to ask for help because I'm so, so bad at coming up with names. It's honestly tragic for someone who enjoys writing to not be able to come up with names. Thanks for the wonderful review!**

KKKKKK

Kaldur knew that he should have left most of the team behind. They were likely only to get in each other's way at the moment. However, something nudged at his senses, some sort of instinct telling him that there was more going on here than he could possibly guess. He supposed that this was what Dick and Roy called a gut instinct.

They were hovering over the edge of the police brigade. Rocket had floated herself and Zatanna down to the ground, letting the bubble-like shield fade away into nothingness when their feet made contact with the earth. The enemy, a tall, African American man with a shaved, bald head, watched the two girls apprehensively. They fanned out, moving to be on either side of him. The man gave no reaction.

Supersonic had moved to lean against the window, one hand pressed against it and eyes narrowed, "Something's not right. He should be defensive. I find myself surrounded by police and mini heroes and I'm going to do anything I can to make myself scarce."

"Set up?" Superboy asked, standing half out of his chair, "Or a trap?"

"Doesn't feel like either. There's something seriously wrong here," Supersonic's brow was furrowed at that point.

Icicle glanced at him from the side, "What is it? Come on, use your words."

Shooting a small glare at his second in command, Supersonic shook his head, "I don't know! I just… does something feel familiar to you? Something about this seems familiar to me."

The members of the Team glanced to each other, confused. What would this remind Supersonic of? The Circus members moved closer to the window. The only one who stayed behind was Maser. His eyes were closed, and one hand was partially outstretched, electricity crackling off of his skin, surrounding him in a bright ring of static.

Icicle glanced back to the rest of the team before putting a hand on his leader's shoulder, "Supersonic, there's nothing familiar about-,"

He was cut off by Ballistic rumbling, "Wait!" He gently pushed his way to the front of the window section, narrowing his own eyes at the street below. He stumbled back suddenly, "That's… I know him!"

"You _know_ him?" Black Canary asked incredulously, "From before you became a meta?"

"No," Ballistic said, the mounting horror in his voice matching the rising horror in the expressions the metahumans wore, "I recognize him from our camp!"

"An escapee?" Robin asked, voice sharp. Kaldur was confused. How was it that they wouldn't have heard of an escape? Although the Collection Agency tended to avoid alarming the public with knowledge of escapes, Batman always got a ping when an escape was reported within the system. Typically, the only information that the Collection Agency transmitted was that there _had been_ an escape, never information on who or what escaped. No details were ever reported. But, the escape itself was _always_ reported.

"The camps wouldn't let one go unless they were cured and this one is basically the opposite of cured since he's not affected by inhibitor collars, so it's got to be an escapee" Artemis responded curtly, her hero voice in full effect.

Ballistic shook his head, "If he escaped, he can't be the only one. Trust me when I say that you don't get out of that camp with only one person, no matter if you are unaffected by the inhibitor collars. And he'd only been in the camp for about a year when I got out. We had _years_ of time spent in the camp to help our escape." The Team members eyed Black Canary and Ballistic, certain that they were the ones who had been in the camps for such extended periods of time. No one but Kaldur noticed the way Supersonic's jaw clenched and Icicle formed a tight fist at the words. He felt some part of his heart stir with an unidentifiable emotion. Ballistic considered a single year spent in the camps to be worthless in an escape. How long had these two teenagers been in the camp to be considered well-versed enough to lead an escape? Kaldur shook the thought from his mind. This wasn't the time.

Kaldur spoke up, "Should we be concerned about other metahumans in the vicinity?"

Sighing, Supersonic shrugged, "I mean… I don't know, honestly. There's a good chance that they split once they got out. A lot of escapees do that. There's always the chance that he really did get out without any other metahumans helping him. He's impervious to inhibitor collars. So far, the only people we know who can do that are the Light. There's a chance he had the Light backing his escape."

Below them, the man had begun weakly striking out at the heroes, shooting lightning bolts that would fizzle partway. He was glowing with a bright shock of electricity that tore apart Rocket's shields and had been effortlessly dodging Zatanna's spells.

Maser suddenly spoke up from behind them, voice crackling with the static surrounding him, "He's not even trying. The bolts he's shooting are all bark, no bite. He's purposefully making them showy but not too harmful. Maybe a little jolt, but that'd be it."

"He wants us to catch him," Red Arrow summarized, voice hard.

"Maybe," Firehawk mused, standing slightly back from the group, "Or maybe he wants to be anywhere but here and someone's forcing him."

"Who, though? Why?" M'gann sounded frustrated and tired, something unusual for the typically bubbly girl.

Kaldur watched as Zatanna stopped trying simple spells and shot out a wave of power that rocked the earth beneath the metahuman's feet. The man stumbled, a genuinely surprised expression on his face. Behind them, Maser made a grabbing motion with his hand and the ring of static electricity that had been preventing Rocket from making a move disappeared, shattering into bright bursts of light around the man. Both Maser and the enemy winced, gasping. Rocket used the moment to engulf the man in one of her bubbles. She lifted it into the air and shook it around. The man didn't get a chance to gain his bearings before Zatanna was whispering a spell that would put him to sleep. The man crumbled into a little ball at the bottom of the force field. Carefully, both girls nodded to the police before starting their trek back into the air to go back to the bioship.

Supersonic pushed himself back off the window, mouth tight with stress, "I guess we're about to find out."

Kaldur put a hand on Supersonic's shoulder, feeling the muscles flinch and twitch under his hand before Supersonic carefully stilled. Kaldur pulled his hand away as soon as he was sure that Supersonic was listening, "I am sure that you wish to bring this man back to your rehabilitation center, but I ask that you allow our teams to come together and interrogate this man as one unit before you take him away."

"I can allow that," Supersonic answered easily, much easier than Kaldur had been expecting. Twisting slightly to look back at him, Supersonic easily read Kaldur's confusion, "You're good enough to let us take the metas. This is the least we could do, honestly."

Nodding to his co-leader, Kaldur let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, "Thank you."

"No problem," Supersonic answered absentmindedly, already moving back towards where the prisoner was being settled down in the back, still in Rocket's shield. Maser turned his chair to face the prisoner, hand still outstretched and electricity still forming a glowing aura around him.

Changeling must have noticed the looks Maser was getting because he explained, "Maser's just making sure that the electricity won't really come back if the guy wakes up for some reason during the ride home.

Supersonic still had a worried expression on his face as Miss Martian made to leave the area. He bit his lip and asked suddenly, "Should we do a sweep of the area to make sure that there aren't any other metas? I don't think we'll find any, but I'll feel better if we run a check." Kaldur nodded to him. It was better to be safe than sorry. Shoulders slumping slightly in relief, Supersonic nodded his head to Icicle, Robin, and Superman, "You three good to do a sweep from the ground? Then we can send Red Arrow, Artemis, and Jinx to the rooftops? Miss Martian will keep the bioship steady. Maser and Rocket will hold down the prisoner. Zatanna, can you fly? Okay, good. Zatanna, Firehawk, and Changeling will check the sky. Good? Alright, just check out for about a mile or two."

The groups assigned to leave the bioship nodded to him. Miss Martian discretely moved the bioship to an area that wasn't swarming with police presence. Hopefully, the police wouldn't notice the extra members of the Team. There shouldn't be a reason for the police to venture out this far before securing the scene and working to clear the damage in the area, but Kaldur couldn't be sure.

Ballistic was crouching next to Rocket's sphere, staring intently at the figure inside. Supersonic leaned down next to Ballistic, settling into his own squat. Kaldur moved closer to hear them speak. Supersonic tilted his head to the side, "I know I recognize him, but the memories of him are pretty fuzzy. Was he… in my group or yours?"

Heaving a huge sigh, Ballistic winced, "Yours."

Supersonic's jaw clenched again, but he didn't comment on that further, "How did you know him? Same barracks?"

Ballistic nodded, "Yeah. His daughter was in my group, too."

Supersonic shook his head, lips twisting, "They normally try to put family in different camps. Weird that they were in the same place. Wouldn't want us getting all self-sacrificing for our family." He finished bitterly.

Glancing at his leader, Ballistic sighed, "Probably didn't know they were related. This guy split from his wife and left the kid with the mother for protection. Didn't work as well as he wanted it to."

All of a sudden, Rocket's voice broke over the conversation, "I _knew_ I recognized him!"

" _You_ recognize him?" Ballistic asked, shocked.

"You _don't_?" Rocket challenged. When everyone continued to stare at her uncomprehendingly, she rolled her eyes and explained, "He's gone to the Olympics twice. Just a couple of years ago, he got a gold medal in the decathlon. He was raised in a real bad part of Metropolis, so a ton of people were talking about how impressive it was that he was able to get out of the slums and make a real name for himself. Never imagined he was going to end up being a metahuman. I used to idolize him before he completely disappeared out of the spotlight about two years ago."

"That'd be about when he was taken to the camps," Ballistic said before sighing, "At least we know that the Collection Agency doesn't publicize their captures. If people weren't even told that an Olympic gold medalist was brought to the camps, then there's no way our information was spread around."

Supersonic snorted bitterly, "Makes you wonder how many disappearances can be linked to the Collection Agency. Like, imagine your friend just disappearing and you put in a report, but nothing happens. And, plot twist, they're in a camp somewhere and you'll just never know."

Kaldur winced internally. There was a good chance that the situation Supersonic had described happened far too often to be comfortable. He wondered idly if any members of the Justice League had experienced it: friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues disappearing into the ether, no trace of them. They could either be gone into the various camps around the United States or they could have run to avoid the camps, disappearing into the metahuman underground. Or they could have been taken by the metahuman criminal sphere, forced into misusing their powers or being experimented on somewhere.

How could they tell? How could anyone reliably know whether the people who disappeared actually disappeared or if they'd been taken into custody of the Collection Agency? What even was the process to be taken into a camp? Was there a trial? Was their family sat down and the experience explained? Or were they just taken? On further thought, what did Supersonic mean by "my group or yours?" What were the different groups? How were these barracks arranged? Kaldur was starting to realize how little he actually knew about the camps, how little the Collection Agency publicized about the camps.

A loud clatter broke Kaldur out of his thoughts, the rest of the team returning to the bioship, clamoring into the space. Supersonic moved fluidly back to standing pose, eyes skipping quickly over his team, probably checking for injuries. Icicle came over and the two fist bumped idly.

Robin sidled up next to Kaldur, "The prisoner make any moves?"

"No," Kaldur reported, "But Rocket recognized him as an Olympic gold medalist."

Startled, Robin blinked at the prisoner, trying to discern his face through the slightly wavy color of Rocket's shield. He tilted his head to the side, "Huh. Really shows you that becoming a metahuman could happen to anyone. Anyways, there weren't any suspicious figures or anything like that around the area. There was an area that I'm pretty sure held at least three squatters pretty recently. There's a chance that him and two others could have been there hiding. Maybe they were approached by someone who wanted this guy to do something and the other two refused or the other two are being used against him. Or maybe I'm completely off my mark." Dick scrubbed a frustrated, weary hand over his face.

Roy came over and bumped Dick's shoulder, voice lowering, "Still can't find any information about potential donors?"

Kaldur turned to them, startled. He'd forgotten that Robin was still investigating that. Robin sighed, scrubbing both hands over his face that time, " _No_. I don't have nearly enough information to narrow down my list. Whoever set up their benefactor system is seriously skilled."

"Might have been one of the benefactors. Not of a lot of people want to get caught helping out metas," Roy mused, shrugging.

"I guess we'll never know," Dick grumbled, mainly to himself. Roy snorted.

Kaldur thought to himself that, this time, the idea that the Circus might have been stealing the resources was never mentioned.

Rocket's exclamation drew them back to the prisoner's situation, the bioship already on the way back to headquarters, "Hey! Don't touch that!"

Changeling shrunk back a little bit, eyes huge and green in his face, "Er… sorry? It just… looks squishy. I wanted to see what it felt like." He gave her a pout that almost seemed to be formed unconsciously.

Rocket's stern expression faltered and collapsed under the metahuman's pout, twitching into a little, reluctant smile, "Oh, alright. But _gently_. And only one poke!"

The group watched in amusement as Changeling's tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth. He bent down and carefully moved his pointer finger closer and closer to the sphere before gently poking it. He blinked, "It is kind of soft! Sort of!"

Kaldur watched as the majority of the people in the bioship smiled, finding themselves drawn in by the boy's enthusiasm. Supersonic was the only one not smiling, instead seeming to be lost in his own thoughts, staring intently at the unconscious body within the force field as if it could give him all of the answers. It was obvious that the questions that were piling up around them were bothering the speedster. To be honest, it was bothering Kaldur as well. There was something about this entire situation that did not feel right. It almost felt like someone was planning all of it, drawing them further and further into a trap that they had no chance of seeing. But how could that be possible? Who would have that much patience, that much knowledge? Sure, there was the possibility of the mole, but that still didn't answer how the Circus was drawn so tightly into this woven net of mysteries. Was the new group that Supersonic had met tied just as deeply into this?

Both metahuman groups had spies in the Light. The Circus and the Team both had a Light spy among themselves. There were too many spies, too many unknowns, too many chances to mess up. The Light was making moves that were unpredictable and seemingly unexplainable. Were their various attacks and plans unconnected and simply a means to throw the Team off their trail? Or were the attacks all part of something larger that the Team wouldn't see until it was too late?

Kaldur shook away the thoughts. This was why they'd teamed up with the Circus in the first place. No matter what odds were stacked against them, the Light couldn't predict anything. And the power of a team that genuinely respected and trusted each other was more than the Light could possibly understand. That was the downfall of every villain in the end. They don't understand the meaning of true bonds. And that is why they fail.

He only looked up when the bioship started descending. Across from him, Supersonic looked up at the same time, straightening his shoulders and setting his expression. Now that Kaldur thought about it, he wasn't sure he'd ever seen Supersonic smile. Maybe he had done something that had vaguely resembled a smirk, but that had been it. Not for the first time, Kaldur wondered what it was that Supersonic had gone through in his life. What kind of childhood had he experienced? What were the camps like for him? Where was his family? Did he have a family?

As the ship descended into the new base, Kaldur wondered if he'd ever know the answers to these questions.

WWWWWW

Wally made sure to keep an eye on his people as they all walked to some sort of interrogation chamber or whatever. Cameron walked at the front of the group and asked, "So, how are we going to keep him from going psycho electrical when we wake him up?"

"We have rooms designed for a great number of things. There is a rubber room to deal with people with electricity-based abilities. We can put him in there," Aqualad answered. Wally figured he should probably take some time to explore this new base and get to know what's actually around. It felt like Aqualad was taking over completely and while Wally didn't mind the decrease in workload, it wasn't fair on Aqualad and it didn't look good for the alliance.

The moved towards the room, finally getting the man into the room and leaving him there. Both Rocket and Harold let out sighs of relief as they were finally able to let go of their powers, sweat dotting their brow lines and trembles shaking their arms. Harold collapsed hard into a chair, but Changeling immediately tried to pull him back up, "C'mon, Maser! You should probably shower and then do some stretches and then eat some stuff to make sure that your powers didn't wear you out too bad." Garfield and Harold were good friends, most often seen together. Wally figured it was because they were the closest in age other than maybe Jinx, but maybe they just really clicked. Their personalities didn't seem like they'd normally click, but it worked.

Harold groaned, "Or I could just sit here and be comfortable."

"You'll be sore tomorrow," Dinah warned.

"Yes, mother," Harold sighed, finally allowing Garfield to bring him to his feet, "I know. I just wish human bodies didn't work this way." Some of the Team members tensed a little bit, expressions going sort of flat. For a moment, Wally couldn't tell what set them off. Then he realized that Harold had said 'human' bodies. Was that really what they were getting worked up about? Honestly. Metahumans and humans typically shared the same bodies. They were all born the same. The only thing was that one tiny little gene was activated and bam! Powers. Sure, that occasionally made them look _not-human_ (Kelvin was a perfect example), but that didn't mean that they hadn't once or sometimes still had human bodies.

Garfield transformed in a large gorilla, sweeping Harold up in his arm and depositing the other teen on his back, loping off towards, presumably, the showers. Cameron stretched his arms up behind his back, "I may not be able to cook, but I am capable of throwing together basic sandwiches. Anyone who wants food can come up with me. You good with that fearless leader?"

"I'd say only if you brought some food down to me, but I know you and I know that you're going to force food on to me no matter what happens, so yeah. I'm good with it. I'll brief you on what happened when we're done." Wally responded, sending his friend a nod.

Cameron nodded back, heading up the stairs. The rest of Wally's team followed him out, each mumbling about what they wanted in their sandwich and if any of them really wanted any more food. Wally shook his head, "I swear that all they think about is eating."

The whole Team was staring at him when he looked back towards them. Artemis asked incredulously, "No one else from your team is going to watch the interrogation?"

"You're video taping it, right?" Wally asked, nodding his head towards the camera in the corner of the room. Robin nodded to him and Wally spread his hands, "There we go. I can just tell them what happened and if they really want to see it, they can go back and watch it. They're tired from the day right now, so they probably wouldn't be much help either."

"And you're not? You were up so late last night!" Red Arrow exclaimed, a hint of something like accusation in his voice.

Wally shrugged, "I'm the king of cat naps. Also, pretty sure our guy is waking up, so… How do you guys usually play interrogations?"

Aqualad tilted his head to the side, "How does the Circus normally perform _theirs_?"

Shrugging again, Wally said, "I mean, it really depends on the person. Some are just scared, so they get blankets and food and a nice place to sleep before we even try to ask them questions and then we literally just ask. Some are angry with the entirety of the metahuman underground so we try to ask them what they need, why they're upset, what we can do to fix it and then we ask them questions. So I guess we just make them as comfortable as possible, give them what they need, and then try to get a better understanding of what's going on with them. At least, once a Circus member gets there. They're typically detained properly until then."

Superboy frowned, "That doesn't sound like an interrogation."

"In the end, we try to help all metahumans. If we can. We don't want them to hate us or hate other meta groups. We want them to see that we can help them, and they don't have to go out and do bad things any more. The Circus is meant to be safety for metahumans and traditional interrogations – no matter how gentle or moral or whatever – kind of go against that image," Wally explained. It was something he tried to get to every metahuman who passed through the Circus, whether they stayed in the city or not. The Circus was out there to help metahumans and to save them. It wasn't there to hurt them. It wasn't there to trick them. They weren't going to ask for blood or other things to study the metas. It was just a safe haven for them to escape to. That was it.

Superboy nodded to him seriously. Wally had the feeling that he'd like Superboy if he got the chance to know the clone better. Maybe. Sometimes it was hard to tell. But he felt like maybe the half-Kryptonian wouldn't have so many opinions on the metahuman stuff or that he just wouldn't care. That was the main vibe he was getting off Superboy: that he just didn't care about all the stupid confusion and angst between humans and metahumans.

"So," Wally prompted, "How do you normally do it?"

"We just do a traditional interrogation, but, uh. We agreed that you should probably lead the interrogation since, well, he's a metahuman and he's technically going to be your, um, prisoner? Once this is all over," Robin answered, seemingly unsure of the terms he was using.

"Oh," Wally said, nodding. Made sense. He scratched behind his neck, "I'm good with that. So, this isn't a one-way mirror is it? Like, is this a cell or an interrogation room?"

"It's a cell. I can see _and_ hear you," a new voice answered. The entire group glanced up, startled, as the prisoner spoke. He was staring at them with hard brown eyes, fists clenched at his sides, but still sitting down, scooched up against the wall.

Wally clapped his hands together, rubbing them slightly, "Awesome! So, do you know who we are or do you need an introduction, Mr. Jefferson Pierce?" He'd gotten the man's name from Rocket, who'd recognized him as an Olympic athlete. Who even knew the names of Olympic athletes by heart? Then again, maybe Wally would have been more interested in the Olympics if he'd had a chance to watch them as he was growing up. His parents had discouraged it at home because sports would only distract him from his education and the camp definitely hadn't let them watch any television.

The man, Pierce, didn't seem too fazed that Wally knew who he was, but there was a chance that he was just really good at putting up a front, "I _thought_ I knew who all of you were, but the leader of the Circus wouldn't be chumming with the Justice League's lackies, so I guess I don't know who you are." He sent his piercing (get it? Get it? Wally hated himself sometimes) glare straight onto Wally.

Rolling his eyes behind his goggles, Wally said, "Yeah, yeah. I get it. This is a betrayal to my kind. How could I? Where is my loyalty? I should have joined with the Light instead like you and your little buddies." Pierce's eyes flickered slightly at the last sentence, something in them momentarily taken aback, momentarily hurt. Wally had a sudden moment of understanding, "Sorry, my bad. You think I should let my friends get captured by the Light like you did and _then_ I should join them and do what they say. Right."

"I didn't _let_ them get captured!" Pierce protested.

Wally allowed his expression to soften, "I know. Trust me, I know. I bet you guys broke out of the camp pretty recently and weren't really at full power. There was nothing you could do."

Pierce's eyes widened further, "How do you know all of this? How did you know that I was in a camp, that I had people with me?"

Shrugging, Wally answered, "Me and the Circus? We were in the same camp you were in. I think Ballistic said he was in the same barracks as you. Big tall guy with red skin and horns in a couple of spots?" He added quickly when Pierce gave him a blank look. He forgot that since Pierce was in the camps he wasn't going to know about the "superhero" names of the Circus members. Pierce had definitely heard about the Circus, though, based on his comment to Wally in the beginning.

Understanding dawned on Pierce's face, "Wait, you're telling me that the Circus members escaped from the camp I was in and yet you _still_ work with the lesser version of the Justice League?"

Wally could see several of the members puffing up, offended at being called lesser. He spoke before any of them could, "We have a mutual enemy. One that you _should_ share based on the fact that they currently have your friends."

Pierce's facial expression spasmed momentarily, guilt lancing across his countenance, "It's _because_ they have my friends that they aren't my enemies."

"Then why let us capture you? And don't try to say that you were trying because that was the worst attempt at trying I've ever seen if you were," Wally threw back, starting to really dig for answers.

"The Light wants me to deliver a message," Pierce answered.

Narrowing his eyes, Wally asked, "They're willing to burn a meta who's impervious to inhibitor collars on a message?"

Pierce swallowed, licking his lips before answering, "It's _because_ inhibitor collars can't be used that I was chosen to deliver the message. They want you to know that you cannot win. They hold all the cards. Enough cards that you wouldn't stand a chance no matter what you did. The Light is stronger than you could ever imagine. They're already closing in on their main goal. Nothing you have done has detrimentally affected their plans. The Team's mole is very informative. The Light was especially pleased to learn about the Circus's spy and the spies of the metahuman underground group." Wally paled dramatically. They knew about his spy. They knew about _Barry's_ spies. They _knew_. But there was no way that they would be able to figure out who Wally's spy was. There was no way.

Pierce had paused at the reactions everyone gave to that bit of news before continuing hesitantly, "The Light knows about Holo City. They know about Gorilla City and have already cemented control there. The Light knows who each and every one of you are. The Light has more allies than you could ever imagine, including ones in places you would never guess. No matter what alliances you form, what information you get, you cannot defeat the Light."

Wally felt faint. The Light knew about Holo City, knew about the city that Wally had built for the people he'd rescued. He'd known that when they'd sent in Tommy Terror, but it was different having it confirmed, different having that knowledge used as a threat. They knew about _Gorilla City_. According to King Solivar, the only ones who had ever found the compound was Wally and the rest of the Circus. Wally had known that one of the members of Gorilla City had to have told the Light where Holo City was. He knew that there was Grodd and his group of followers and that they occasionally caused some issues. He knew that they weren't pleased with the way that Solivar was running things, knew that they had attempted take overs in the past. Wally just hadn't known that Grodd would sell out Holo City to get the Light's backing in a hostile takeover of Gorilla City. Because what else could have happened? There was no way that the Light could have just stumbled upon Gorilla City and taken it over. The gorillas (or whatever term they used for themselves) there were too strong, too _intelligent_.

Behind him, the Team were murmuring to themselves, confused about the terms being used. They didn't recognize the names of the two cities. That was a small consolation since there was no way to hide the freak out Wally was having over those names mentioned. The Team was going to interrogate _him_ about the names as soon as this was over.

Trying to swallow down the cold fear and aching need to _run_ away from all of this, Wally turned to Pierce, "Okay. Message received. What did the Light do to make you impervious to inhibitor collars?"

The grin Pierce shot him was full of sharp ice, cold and shattered and sharp and maybe a little bit crazy, "You think the _Light_ did this to me? To any other unlucky souls who have this? No, no. It wasn't the Light. And don't think I'm telling you who it is. The Light will know. And they'll kill my friend and my daughter."

Wally briefly shut his eyes, heart going out to the man in front of him. He'd had to watch his daughter suffer in the camp and now that he finally got his daughter out of there, a different group took her. How was this fair? Taking a deep breath, Wally amended his statement, "I won't ask, then. But I still want to know what they did to you."

"How should I know?" Pierce demanded, "Do I look like a scientist to you? I have no clue what they did to me. I know that they cut me open and they stuck something inside, but I don't know what it is. You can go ahead and cut me open and pull it out if you want," He added sarcastically, eyes practically daring them to try. He was trying to make a point to Wally: the Team was an off-shoot of the Justice League. Pierce was trying to say that the Justice League wouldn't hesitate to pull the device out of him, to subject him to tests and examinations. It wouldn't be experimentation, but it would be just shy of it. Pierce wanted Wally to know what the Justice League would do, wanted to see if Wally had become like them.

Voice soft, Wally said, "We'll figure this out." And then he walked away.

After a pause, the Team followed him. Wally started making his way towards the kitchen. This conversation was going to need everyone.

 **Author's Note: Awkward place to stop, I know. Just in case you're wondering, Jefferson Pierce is an actual Young Justice character! I mean, he talks in, like, one episode, but still! He's Black Lightning from season 2! Be proud of me for using characters you semi-know! Haha, anyways, that's that. Actual plot happened shockingly enough. Hope you liked it! I'm going to ask for six more reviews! Thanks for reading!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: Do not procrastinate. I'm not a procrastinator by nature, but sometimes you just get way, way to caught up in the little things and you end up hating yourself and your life when it gets to Thursday and you have about ten things that you don't know how to do due the next day. It really, really sucks. Anyways, on a better note, here's the next chapter! This chapter is dedicated to DPTTrocks for suggesting the name "The Alliance" for Barry's underground name. Read the review where they suggested the name to get the reasoning behind it because it was some very convincing reasoning. Plus, I love the name anyways. Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – Haha, same. That would be me as an evil villain (it is me as an evil author :P). Thanks for the review!**

 **HI – I'm glad you like him! Thanks for the review as always!**

 **You dont like me – Don't say that! You're amazing! I love, love, love it when people give me constructive criticism the way you do! You are so calm and clinical about it and it makes me feel like you're genuinely trying to help, which is why I came onto this site in the first place. I want to get better at writing. You give me faith in humanity and this site, so please keep giving me advice and I will try to improve! Thanks for the wonderful review!**

 **Anett -** **Gracias por la revisión!**

WWWWWW

Cameron sent Wally a reassuring smile that faltered as Wally flicked his fingers slightly, a couple of symbols meaning trouble – they know – be wary. Wally turned to face the Team members who had come up behind him, inwardly wincing when he saw that Robin was frowning thoughtfully at Wally's hand.

Raising a cautious, calculating eyebrow, Robin commented quasi-idly, "I didn't know you knew sign-language."

"We don't," Cameron answered for Wally, slanting his eyes over to his leader for a second before turning back to Robin, "We developed our own little language of symbols during our time in the camps."

Kelvin nodded in agreeance, "It's really annoying. None of the rest of us know their little code and we have no clue what they're saying about us when they look at each other and start flashing little signs."

It was, surprisingly, Superboy who cut straight to the chase, "What are Holo City and Gorilla City?"

If, by any miracle, the Team hadn't noticed Wally's reaction to the city names, there was no chance that they didn't see the full-body flinch several of the metahumans gave at hearing a Team member say those names. Lorraine hissed, "Where did you hear those names?"

"Pierce," Wally answered shortly, "He got captured to send a message from the Light. Within that message, he made sure that we know that the Light knows about Holo and Gorilla City."

Cameron flashed Wally a few more signs, tell them – are you okay – how bad – do they know. Wally sent back quickly, yes – no – not sure. Cameron nodded back to him, taking a deep breath and setting down his sandwich. Almost unnoticeably, a sheen of spiked ice spread over Cameron's hands. He was making sure that he was prepared for whatever was about to go down.

Superboy repeated his question, "What are Holo City and Gorilla City?"

Closing his eyes, Wally sighed and opened them again, "This really is something that I can't tell you. Neither of them are just my secrets to keep."

"That doesn't matter!" Artemis argued heatedly, "The people in these cities are in danger!"

"There's no helping the people in Gorilla City and Holo City is as safe as it's going to get," Wally threw back. If Grodd really had gotten control of Gorilla City, there was nothing that the Team could do to stop that. Especially if Grodd had the Light's backing. Maybe if the Light was taken out and the Team could get the Circus and the Justice League to join in on that fight. _Maybe_ they'd have a chance at that point, but it was still unlikely.

"Maybe that's what you think," Robin said cautiously, "But you're not exactly approaching this from a non-biased perspective, are you?" Wally sent him a sharp look and Robin's nose twitched slightly, "We're not trying to attack you or anything like that! Jeez! We just want to help these people!"

"None of them are human," Cameron pointed out, not exactly accusing the heroes, just stating a fact and testing their response. The rest of the Circus were staying silent. This was one of those moments where they were trusting the decisions to Wally as the leader. They would go with however he decided to take the conversation even without their input. It was moments like this that made Wally wish that they had someone who could form a telepathic bond between them the way Miss Martian could for the Team. That would be so, so convenient.

Surprising the group again, it was Artemis who answered that time, "That doesn't mean anything. We still want to help them!" Wally opened his mouth to argue, but Artemis shot him a glare that shut him up, speaking over him, "I've… I've made some mistakes in how I've been treating you. I will rescue _anyone_ who needs help, no matter what they are. That has always been true even if I made it hard to tell with how I acted earlier." It was the closest to an apology as she would go. Wally welcomed even that much.

Sighing, Wally blew out a breath, "Okay then. You know the rehabilitation centre? It's part of a city myself and the rest of the Circus built for the metahumans we rescue. It's a huge, sprawling metropolis that covers a lot of land and has everything a self-sustaining land would need. Obviously, we get some money to help the city stay afloat from outside sources, but the city is pretty good at staying completely insular and running itself without needing to get stuff from neighbouring areas. That's Holo City.

"Gorilla City is a little more complicated to explain. It's a city that's been hidden to humanity for a long, _long_ time. It's inhabited by highly intelligent _gorillas_. And, yes, I know that is unrealistic, but it's true. These gorillas – they call themselves something else like Super Primates or something, I don't know – can speak with humans and they have technology that is advanced far beyond what humans could make. They have one specific piece of tech that has kept this city so well hidden that the Circus is the only group of people to stumble across it. The King of Gorilla City listened to us tell him about the problems we were having. We were being persecuted by our own kind and had a growing group of people who we wanted to protect, but no way to do it. He said that Gorilla City was founded as a solution to similar problems and he gave us the tech to start our own city.

"There's a faction within Gorilla City that doesn't like the way King Solivar is ruling Gorilla City, though. It's led by a gorilla called Gorilla Grodd. Grodd's super intelligent even among the super intelligent gorillas and he wants to be in charge. My belief is that he leaked the existence and location of Holo City to the Light in order to get the Light to back him in a coup against King Solivar. Based on what Pierce said, I think the coup was successful and Grodd is now in charge of Gorilla City." Wally finished, slightly out of breath.

Artemis blinked at him, "That… was not the answer I was expecting." Wally shrugged unrepentantly. Artemis squinted at him, "I just… talking gorillas?"

"Trust me, it's much weirder in person," Cameron threw out, shuddering dramatically. He and Artemis shared a brief smile.

Wally added, "That's why it doesn't matter whether you knew about them or not. Holo City is as protected as it can get. They aren't going to take human or hero protectors and they'll be furious when they find out that we even told anyone. And if Grodd's taken control of Gorilla City, then there's no chance that you guys can do anything. Maybe if the Light's taken out, we might have a chance, but right now there's nothing we can do."

"We can still try," Miss Martian pleaded, eyes soft.

Wally shrugged, "I'm not telling you where Gorilla City is. If you still want to try, then you can go looking for it if you want. I'm going to focus on the problems at hand."

"I believe the first issue we should address is whether this… Grodd character knows the identity of your spy. There is little chance that the hypothetical mole within the Team knows the identity or your spy, so the only way that your spy would be compromised would be if they made a mistake or if Grodd could give information on them," Aqualad stated calmly.

Aqualad probably only cared because the spy was a potential source of information, but it made Wally feel good to think that Aqualad and the rest of the Team might care about Wally's spy as well. Shrugging, Wally answered unconcernedly, "The spy is good – they won't get caught. And there's no way that Grodd would be able to figure out who they are. I'm going to operate under the assumption that they're safe until the next time I get in contact with them."

"How can you be so blasé about this?" Zatanna asked, expression slightly aghast.

"Our spy really is good at what they do. They're not going to go down easily, and they won't go down without a fight. Of course we're worried about them, but this is their job in the organisation, you know? They've been doing this since we've been created. And, yeah, normally they're only undercover for a little bit before they get us into the group and we take them out from the inside, but just because it's not going to go down the same way this time doesn't mean anything different."

"I don't know how I feel about that," Rocket admitted.

Wally shrugged again, "You don't have to feel any sort of way about it. It's what's happening. It's what's going to happen. The spy's okay with it and we, as their family and team, are okay with it." Rocket bit her lip but didn't say anything else.

After a short pause, Garfield piped up, "So, are we going to talk about what else the lightning guy said?"

Wally's lips tightened, "The Light has got one of Pierce's friend's and his daughter and they're using them against him. Probably the same situation as Tommy Terror. Pierce said that a device was planted inside of him that made it possible for the inhibitor collars to not work. He won't say who did it, but he did say that it's _not_ the Light."

Kelvin blinked, "Who could it be, then?"

"No clue," Wally admitted, "But Pierce also said that the Light has allies that we'd never expect, so I'm guessing the ally is probably the same person who implanted the device. Who would have the resources to do that kind of stuff?"

"The better question," Kelvin started, "Is who would have the _research_ to do that kind of stuff? I mean, we've run into a lot of groups that do experimentation on metas, but… none of them want to make it better for metas. I guess the Light could have done the research and then sent the information to whoever prepped the device?"

"Could be Queen Bee's special metahuman forces? I haven't heard much about them being experimented on all that vigorously, though. Just like the usual experimentation of ways to make them stronger or whatever. Queen Bee's metas are a work force and an army, not lab rats. Guess that could have changed," Lorraine said uncertainly.

"Especially with Brain and Queen Bee working together. Wouldn't surprise me," Dinah shrugged.

"That doesn't feel right," Harold sighed, "I don't know why. Who else would have this much information stored about metas?"

There was a pause before Red Arrow suggested hesitantly, "… the Camps?"

The group blinked at him. Wally blinked again, "Uh, I mean… yeah? But that's not exactly the stuff they were researching. At least, not while I was there." Wally tried to resist the pull of memories, the rushing swirl of scalpels and drugs and restraints and blood and so much… He swallowed harshly, fighting against that dark path. He remembered them asking about how much it hurt, about how much of the Speed Force he felt rushing through his veins. They asked how he powers felt, how well they were working. They tested how quickly he was healing.

Cameron waved a quick sign in front of Wally's face, stay here – don't fall into memories. Wally tried to breathe through the rushing panic rising in him. Cameron watched him worriedly, but continued where Wally dropped off, "According to Supersonic and Changeling, the scientists at the camp were actually really focused on getting the powers to go away, not make them stronger. Their tests and experiments were angled entirely towards how the powers worked and how to stop them." Wally noted idly that Garfield was starting to shake even as Wally himself stood frozen.

The rest of the Team glanced between the two named Circus members, apparently noticing their distress. Robin asked very carefully, "Why only according to Supersonic and Changeling?"

Cameron made to answer, but Wally interrupted him, finally finding some part of his voice, "Because we have increased healing. We could get through more tests and experiments faster than other metas. The camps split us into two groups: those of us who were experimented on and those who were used as labour. The camps were self-sustaining, so the non-experimented on people worked on the fields and kept the electricity going and built new barracks and all that."

There was something approaching mild horror on Aqualad and Miss Martian's face, but the rest seemed unconcerned with the response, murmuring out their understanding.

"So," Red Arrow said, "Probably not the camps, then."

"I mean, we can't rule them out. There's a chance that someone was hacking their records and getting that information to help supplement their own research. It would cut down on research costs dramatically," Dinah mused.

Garfield brightened, "What about that one tribe in Africa? There's a chance that this isn't purely technological. It could have some magical elements and if anyone knows about the magical bits of metahumans, it's that tribe."

"Assuming magic existed, yes, they would be a good group to look at," Wally started, studiously ignoring the eye rolls he was receiving from the two magic users on the team, "But where would the Light get their research? Because you know that they wouldn't go along with the Light."

"I don't know anything about this group, but the Light could have gone to them and held them hostage, tortured them for their information. Threatened them, blackmailed them, etc.," Robin said. He trailed off slowly when he saw Garfield turn from a forest green to a chalky, minty green. Wally winced; the African village that Garfield had grown up in was close with the tribe that did magical research on metas. Hearing them talked about that way probably wasn't the best. Kelvin patted Garfield's shoulder quickly and Robin grimaced, "Sorry."

"No problem, dude," Garfield squeaked out. Robin grimaced again.

"Anyways," Lorraine said, "How would the Light even know to go to them? It's not like they publicize their opinions. They speak an incredibly rare language. I don't think they've even heard of lightbulbs at this point they're so isolated. The Light can't have known about their research."

"Unless it's the same situation that Gorilla City is in. We haven't seen the tribe in forever. There's a chance that a rebel group could have risen to power in the time we've been gone," Dinah reminded them.

Garfield frowned, "That's not like them at all, though. I doubt that would have happened."

"We'll keep them in mind. Anyone else?" Wally asked, doing his best to pull the conversation back on topic.

There was a pause before Harold suggested, "The Hackers? They've technically got access to practically every research group out there if they wanted it. And you know their morals go as far as the next pay check. If the Light found them, then the Light could have pulled together all of that research and created something from it or sent the info to someone who could create something from it."

"Hackers don't work with others and they don't employ any scientists. How would they know what to get?" Jinx pointed out.

Dinah frowned, "They could always just get everything."

"Inconvenient at best," Jinx shot back.

Shrugging, Lorraine threw out, "The group in Poland?"

"The police broke them up about a month and a half ago," Cameron threw in. Lorraine cursed. A few other members of the Circus threw out a couple of other names, each of them being shot down immediately.

Artemis stuttered out, "How – how do you know all of these groups?"

"Other than the tribe, they're all big names in the metahuman underground. Are you saying that you didn't recognize _any_ of those groups?" Cameron asked incredulously.

Aqualad shook his head, "No. The only well-known metahuman group is you. None of us have encountered any of those other groups, nor have we heard word of them from our mentors. Are there really that many metahuman groups out there?"

Snorting, Wally said, "Are you kidding? There are _hundreds_. This is _global_ movement. There are tons of groups in every single country, all fighting for the same thing." He paused for a moment before saying, without any malice, "It blows my mind sometimes how little you guys know about the entire metahuman situation."

There was a long pause of silence before Jinx rolled her eyes, "What I'm hearing is that no one has a clue who has the research or the resources to do this."

"I can talk to the meta group I made contact with earlier today? See if they've got anything on this. If everyone's alright with me telling them about Pierce's condition," Wally suggested. They had literally just found a metahuman underground group that specialized in information. It would be a crime to not use them.

"Why wouldn't we be alright with that?" Superboy asked, confused.

"Information is power," Harold answered, "As of right now, we don't know anyone else with this knowledge, so we've got an edge when dealing with other groups."

"He's _your_ prisoner now," Robin pointed out. Wally shrugged and agreed. He'd deal with that later. What did he even have to do later? He was pretty sure there had been a list of things to do at that point.

Shaking his head, Wally said, "Well, not that we've got _that_ settled, I'm going to go grab some stuff to make that room more comfortable for Pierce and then I'll eat my own supper. After that, I'll debrief my people. Sound good to everyone?" He received nothing but nods in response.

Still, he wasn't surprised when Cameron joined him on the way down to the cells. Cameron waited until they were far away from where Superboy would be able to hear them. If they weren't far enough, then… well, they'd just have to deal with that when the time came.

Cameron bumped Wally's shoulder, handing him a sandwich, "So, what's up with this new meta group that you were willing to make an alliance with them? You never did get around to telling us."

"Their leaders are my aunt and uncle," Wally said, not bothering to dance around the issue with Cameron.

Eyebrows raising in surprise, Cameron whistled lowly, "Wow. That's, uh, quite the discovery." There was something a little pained, a little envious in Cameron's voice that felt like a blow to Wally's stomach.

Wally turned his head slightly to look at Cameron dead-on, "Look, I'm sorry Cam."

"About what?" Cameron asked, tilting his head to the side, apparently genuinely confused.

Wally frowned, "About the fact that I get to reunite with my aunt and uncle and the only person you've got left is your trash dad and he's still in prison."

Rolling his eyes, Cameron muttered to himself, "Why am I not surprised that he found a way to make a happy occasion into an excuse to be guilty?" Wally smiled a little at Cameron's exasperation. Cameron continued, louder, "You really, really have nothing to say sorry about. And the rest of them are going to say the same thing. None of us can choose our biological family and most of us can't choose how our trash lives go. It's not your fault that your ran into your aunt and uncle. And from what you've said of those two, I have no doubt that they'd practically adopt all of us if they met us."

"You're right about that," Wally said, shaking his head fondly.

"So," Cameron started, "What's their story? Your take on their organization?"

Wally finished a bite of his sandwich before answering. He gave a detailed overview of what had happened to Barry and Iris, delving into far more detail than he was going to give when it came time to tell the rest of the group. He described the organization as well as he could, giving out all the information he had picked up on the department heads of the organization and the other people that had been in the buildings.

Once Wally had finished, they walked into the cell and gave Pierce the cot, blankets, pillow, and food they'd brought him. He'd seemed shocked and suspicious when Wally told him that he'd be moved the next day or the day after. Wally wasn't surprised that he was so suspicious but didn't have anything he could say to reassure the man, so he just shrugged and left the former Olympic athlete on his own.

Cameron stopped Wally before they moved too far back towards the others. He leaned back against the wall, "So, what do you really think of them? You've given me the details. What are the emotions?"

"Still working on that?" Wally tried. Cameron gave him a flat stare and Wally rolled his eyes, "My main hang up is the fact that they have so many humans. I know that the goal of every metahuman group is to eventually integrate ourselves back into society, but it's really, really easy to let go of that goal. And I don't think I had realized how far out of sight that goal had seemed until I had run face first into an example of the goal becoming reality. I mean, _humans_ , Cam. There were humans working with metahumans. More humans in a metahuman underground group than metas. It's everything we've ever dreamed of!"

"But it didn't feel like it," Cameron guessed, "It felt scary and unfamiliar and confusing instead of comfortable and wonderful and bright like you'd imagined." Wally nodded miserably, and Cameron let out his own sigh, "I kind of think that happens with any grand dream someone has. I mean, I've told you about how awful Dad was to me. For _years_ , I sat there and begged and pleaded with any deity I could think of. I begged them to _get me out of there_. And they did. But they got me out of life with my Dad and straight into life at the camps. For a long time, I couldn't see the point of making wishes, of having hopes and dreams if they'd only get dashed to pieces with the realization that the world _sucks_ and there's no happy ending."

Wally bumped Cameron's shoulder, "What changed? Getting out?"

Cameron smiled, "Actually, no. It was before that. Let's see. It was probably… two years after we had been put in the camp. Brick had just died, remember?" Wally nodded. Cameron gave a small, sad smile, "He'd been with us since the beginning of our time. He was in the same bus as we were. I'll always remember the way he yelled that we were just children when those douchebags started picking on us. And I knew that he was a criminal. I mean, most of the people in our barracks were criminals because that's who the Collection Agency got on the first sweep. So, I knew that Brick had done a lot of bad things. Drugs, gang violence. He'd gone against the Green Arrow for a long time, actually. But… he knew he was dying, you know? He could tell the whole day that he wasn't going to make it to the next morning. So, for those of us who were in the barracks that night – you were still in one of your longer tests – he told us something that changed the way I thought. He looked at us and said, 'You know what? I'm sick to death of being bitter and angry and confused. I'm happy now. I'm going to die happy. And I'm not even lying to myself. You guys are a better family, a better _team_ than my own gang was.' And Brick was right. I found you and then we found the rest of the Circus. The camp _sucked_ , but it gave us the chance to be better people, to find each other, and to save others. It just took us a while to get to this point. We're still working on it, honestly. We had to worry about so much when we finally got out of those camps, but it worked out in the end. Yeah, I had to work my butt off to really end up getting my hopes and dreams of a better world away from my Dad, but I did it. And it's so worth it."

Wally gently let his head thump against the wall, "Someday, we're going to be able to say we got something good without having to preface it with 'I had to work my butt off.'" Cameron snorted, and Wally allowed a small smile, "I just… They were all so _happy_. Sure, there were things like the fact that Caitlyn and Julian didn't like their alter egos or whatever, but that was just a little thing. Well, it didn't seem like it _had_ been a little thing, but it seemed more like one of those it-sucked-while-it-happened-but-now-its-over-so-I'm-pretty-good-with-it kind of things. Oh, stop laughing at me. You know what I mean! It's… I know they've had more time to work through their problems, but they kind of seem like an impossible standard, you know? They have everything, and they just work together so seamlessly. It was like they'd forgotten which of them were humans and which were metahumans. It was incredible and terrifying. How do we even get to that point? How do we get to a point where humans don't scare me so much? Where I can feel comfortable letting my team sleep in a building where there are non-metahumans sleeping? How can I possibly get to a time where I can hear the word 'human' and not inwardly flinch?"

Sighing, Cameron leaned his head back against the wall. Then he started to chuckle. Wally turned to him, bemused, "What?"

"We're all sorts of messed up, aren't we?" Cameron asked, no trace of bitterness in his tone.

Raising his eyebrows incredulously, Wally asked, "Isn't that what your whole little speech was about? We might be messed up but we can fix it and get better? Where did that optimism go?"

"I bequeathed it all unto you," Cameron smirked.

Wally rolled his eyes and shoved at Cameron's shoulder, "No matter what, we'll always have each other. Best friends."

"Brothers," Cameron added.

Wally paused for a second, gathering himself. Then he drew Cameron into a tight hug. They stood there together for several seconds, drawing in each other's strength. When they finally separated, Cameron was pouting at Wally, "Hugs are no fair."

"They're… what?" Wally asked.

"No fair!" Cameron repeated, "I get a certain amount of comfort based on the amount of time spent in the hug. You experience time differently, so you get more out of a hug than I do! Not fair!"

"I give better hugs, though, so it balances out," Wally threw back, smirking.

Sending him a smile, Cameron shook his head, "Yeah, you kind of do. C'mon. Let's get back to your team."

 **Author's Note: Yay! Chapter! Thanks for reading! I'm going to ask for four more reviews for another chapter!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note: As always, you guys are the best and make literally every bad day I have (and there are a lot) better. Thank you for being amazing and perfect and the best readers in existence. Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **HI – It's definitely a character from comics. I have told myself that I will no longer write OCs in stories that are based off of DC/Marvel stuff because why should I create my own character when I have a wealth of characters to choose from before me? Although, honestly, sometimes it's easier to make my own character than try to find just the right comic character to fit my needs. Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Wally would willingly admit that he was nervous.

The Justice League was finally going to enter their lives on a more permanent basis. In the days following Pierce's arrest, there had been a flurry of movement and action as the team tried to come together. Most of the Circus's regular activities had been moved to the daytime while most of the Team members were gone to school or wherever they went. Afternoons were spent training or going over information that they had on the Light. Evenings were spent doing various bonding exercises that ranged from implementing the argument system to stereotypical ice breaker activities to movie nights. Nights were when Wally dealt with problems in Holo City and worked to organize the information from the Alliance (Barry's metahuman group name; Wally had finally got around to asking them).

It was busy and insane and moved far faster than even Wally was used to, and he was used to a pretty fast paced life. But, the fast pace and the constant influx of activity and tasks to do meant that the entire team were working well together, better than expected. It was a lot easier to work with someone when you had actual work to do. If they'd spent the week doing nothing but just trying to bond and sitting in the large headquarters twiddling their thumbs, there would have been blood.

As it was, Miss Martian (who had, after about four days, had broken down and said, "Call me M'gann. It's my Martian name so it's not like I'm telling you my civilian name!") had seemed to form a fast friendship with Garfield. Wally figured it had something to do with the two of them being green. Then again, it was kind of rude to assume that all green people just got along. Anyways, Red Arrow and Kelvin had bonded over weaponry and often spent their free time admiring Kelvin's quite impressive array of weapons with Red Arrow preening over his own trick arrow collection.

Dinah seemed to have latched onto Red Arrow as someone to mother incessantly. Maybe it was because he was so determined to be seen as 'macho' that he didn't take care of himself as well as he could or wasn't as polite as he could have been. Maybe Dinah just felt connected to him for some reason. Wally wasn't judging.

He and Aqualad had worked together a lot over the past week, definitely getting closer and really cementing their role as co-leaders. Wally had gotten a lot closer with Artemis as well. After their conversation that day in the training room, she was a lot less hostile. She still made a lot of jokes and harsh comments, but they were all in fun instead of actively malicious as they had been before.

Everything had felt like it was setting into some sort of pattern, a comfortable medium that they were all existing in for the time being. It was working, and they were making serious progress on the whole Light problem. Their combined knowledge was actually astounding. Both of them had been approaching the problem from _completely_ different angles. Beyond that, there was the fact that the Team got a lot of information from facing the Light head-on and the Circus got a lot of information from their spy within the organization. With the addition of the Alliance's information, they were tackling the problem from every angle. It was everything Wally had hoped for from this temporary truce.

Then the Justice League came in.

Wally knew that they were good and that the League had saved a lot of people and would probably continue to save a lot of people long after Wally was gone. That didn't mean that the thought of them didn't leave a bad taste in Wally's mouth.

The struggles of being hunted down by Batman, of knowing that the leading experts on being heroes had denounced the Circus as terrorists, the conversation Wally had had with them – none of that led towards a particularly favourable opinion of the group. But, Wally knew that the connection between the League and the Team was strong and that if Wally wanted to work with one, then he needed to be able to work with the other one. It was frustrating, but Wally was going to have to deal with it if he wanted things to keep going as smoothly as before.

Luckily, Wally wouldn't have to deal with too many Leaguers. Red Tornado had been around the headquarters for the past week but had been staying quiet and out of the way, so Wally figured that he wouldn't have much problem with the robot. Wonder Woman was a bit more frustrating, but she could definitely teach them a lot during their time here and Wally figured that if he could appeal to the goodness in someone's heart, it would be easiest to do with Wonder Woman. She seemed like someone who would have a strong moral compass. Plus, she'd be gone most of the time anyways, only there for training.

Batman was annoying and infuriating but after this day, he'd only be around for mission send-offs.

It was Green Lantern that Wally was most concerned about. He hadn't heard anything negative about the Green Lantern and the man was more likely to be more open to the metahumans since he regularly dealt with different species, but he was an unknown. Wally didn't know anything about Green Lantern and that made him dangerous. And Green Lantern was the one who was going to be staying in the base with them as long as he was on-world at the moment. Which was, apparently, not very often. But still. It was daunting.

Wally wasn't going to let them see that, though. Wally was going to make the Justice League see him as an equal if it was the last thing he did. He needed to show them that he wasn't scared and that he could handle this arrangement. If they thought that they could intimidate him and push him around, then there was no chance of achieving anything through this relationship.

So, Wally was going to stand tall and he was going to face them head-on, no matter how scared or apprehensive or nervous he was. He was going to show them that he could take this.

That was why he was standing at the front of his team, making sure that they were all partially behind him when the members of the League filed into the building.

Wally was 90% sure that Batman noticed his not-so-subtle placement, but he didn't say anything, instead turning his apparently perpetual scowl onto the room at large rather than just Wally. There was a long, dramatic pause where each group stared at each other and a suspenseful air hung in the room.

It was weird.

Were meetings between mentors and mentees always this tense and stressful? This dramatic? Wally would never understand heroes. They had the most ridiculous flair for dramatics, but then they also insist that they're undercover and more sophisticated. Like, what? Wally studiously ignored the voice in the back of his head (that had sounded like Cameron for the past six or so years) that told him that he was just as dramatic and flamboyant with his efforts to rescue people.

It was Wonder Woman who spoke first, "Throughout this past week, we have been getting reports on your progress." Read: they've been spying on the teenagers through whatever creepy bat-inspired spying methods Batman had been using. Wonder Woman continued, oblivious of the scowl Wally was throwing her way, "We are pleased with the alliance you have all created and the progress you've made against the Light. I hope that I will be able to aid this growth with the training regimens I have created based on the progress reports I've been given." She nodded to them, face still set and serious.

Green Lantern spoke next, "Yeah, what she said." Wonder Woman glared at her and Green Lantern smirked back, unrepentant. Kelvin was laughing softly behind him. Green Lantern went to speak again, but someone poked him in the back instead. Turning his head slightly, Wally saw Harold's pale face.

Sliding his eyes over to the Justice League, Wally angled his body slightly towards Harold, tilting his head to the side curiously. Harold grabbed Wally's palm and spelled out quickly _I-K-N-O-W-H-I-M_.

Raising his eyebrows, Wally grabbed Harold's palm, writing _G-L-?_. Harold nodded. Wally wanted to bash his head into something. Of course Harold knew the Green Lantern. Of course. Because if he didn't, then Wally's life might have actually been somewhat approaching easier.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Wally nodded to him and wrote back quickly _T-A-L-K-L-A-T-E-R_. Harold nodded back, relieved. Wally still wanted to bash his head into the wall.

He tuned back into the conversation as Green Lantern was saying, "I'll try to stay out of your way as much as possible. I'm here as extra protection due to the decreased security of this place." He gave them an easy smile, but that didn't stop Jinx from snorting in the background.

Scowling deeper, Batman growled, "Is there a problem with that?"

Jinx scowled right back, "I just think it's cute that you're trying to cover up the real reason he's here: you don't trust us to be around your precious little sidekicks."

"We're not sidekicks," Red Arrow mumbled, but he was apparently not suicidal enough to say it loudly in front of The Batman.

Instead of answering Jinx's accusations, Batman swirled around with a truly impressive cape movement and said, "I will contact you for your next mission." And then he was gone, Wonder Woman following slightly at his heels. Wally wanted to roll his eyes.

At the front of the room, Green Lantern actually did seem to be rolling his eyes, sighing dramatically, "Honestly, I don't know how you work with him on a regular basis, Robin. I'd kill him before a week was over. He's so _dramatic_ , all the time. And the scowls are annoying too. Ugh."

Robin cackled, "You get used to it. Besides, he likes me better than he likes you."

Green Lantern muttered under his breath, "He liked _everyone_ better than he liked me." Then he raised his voice, turning towards the Circus, "Alright, I don't know any of your names. Want to catch me up?"

Harold tugged quickly on the back of Wally's suit, pulling slightly towards the door. Turning his head slightly, Wally realized that Harold was genuinely panicked at having any sort of interaction with Green Lantern, even just introducing himself. Inwardly sighing, Wally turned back to Green Lantern, "Icicle is going to take care of introductions. I've got to talk to this one about something. I'll be back in a flash." Wally's team groaned at the pun as Wally purposefully put his back between Green Lantern and Harold, ushering Harold towards the bedrooms.

The two of them walked silently until they reached Harold's room, waiting for a second as Harold entered in his code. When they got into the room, Harold practically fell on the bed, throwing his face in his hands and groaning, "Why is this my life?"

"Who is he?" Wally asked carefully, closing the door behind him and settling down next to Harold. He felt like he should reach out and rub Harold's back comfortingly, but the thought of doing that kind of freaked Wally out, so he just sat down next to the younger metahuman, voice soft and concerned.

"You know how we all kind of talked about our families that one day? And I told you guys that I had a cousin who had the same name as me – Harold Jordan, - except he went by Hal instead of Harold?" Harold asked. Wally nodded, having a feeling as to where this was going. Harold finished miserably, "Well, you just met him."

Letting out a rough breath, Wally ran a hand through his hair, "Are you absolutely certain?"

"Definitely," Harold answered without a second of hesitation, "Hal is my favourite cousin. He was always so passionate about stuff and he was really smart even if he tried not to show it. But the stuff he can do as a pilot is _amazing_. He was, I think, dishonourably discharged from the military, but he still flies for… Ferris Air? At least, that's what he was doing last I saw him. But it's been over five years since I've seen him. Once my parents disappeared, I went out on my own search for them. I dropped everything to do it, especially once my powers came in. Then, by the end of that year, I'd been caught by the Collection Agency and I obviously haven't seen him during that time."

"Okay," Wally said slowly, "What do you want to do about it?"

Harold gave him a startled look, "I don't know! What am I supposed to do about it? It's not like I can waltz up to him and go, hey, yo, I'm your cousin! Weird how we both joined groups that typically face against each other and are now teaming up for a brief period of time with a strong chance that we're going to end up hating each other at the end of this. How have you been doing these past five years? I've been doing horribly, thank you."

Sternly, Wally corrected, "We're not going to hate each other at the end of this. Part of this alliance is to change the way we're hunted down. We might not be able to get the heroes to do any more than that, but at the very least we can get them to stop hunting us down and maybe start to work with us. You don't have to worry about that."

"He's a _hero_ , Wally!" Harold bemoaned, burying his face in his hands, "He's a hero and all of the heroes think that we're terrorists and horrible people! How can I look him in the eye when he knows that I'm a killer?"

"We never killed an innocent. We only killed when we had to. You _know_ that," Wally reminded him.

Sighing, Harold responded, " _I_ know that, but does he? Will he believe me? The Justice League doesn't believe in killing people and we've killed people and I just… I don't want him to hate me."

"You said he was in the military, right?" Wally asked suddenly. Harold nodded back to him, confused, and Wally sent him a small, encouraging smile, "If he was in the military, then he has to understand that sometimes death is a necessary evil when it comes to saving people or protecting people. It's not something that we enjoy, or what we want to do, but it's a sacrifice we make only when we have to in order to keep ourselves and the other metas safe. He'll understand that."

Harold's hands tightened into fists, "That still doesn't change the fact that I'm a metahuman. Heroes hate metahumans."

"They don't hate us. They think we're dangerous and they think that we can't be trained to be not dangerous. If anything, they're afraid of us," Wally answered instantly.

Harold smiled hesitantly, "Hal's not afraid of anything."

"See? Then he's not afraid of you and he doesn't hate you. He's not going to be bothered with the killing and he isn't going to hate us after this whole mess with the Light is over and done with. Okay? So, you're good," Wally answered easily.

Taking in a careful, slow breath, Harold rubbed his hands over his face brusquely, "It's just… there's always this hope that all of this will be over some day and I'll be able to go back to my family. I'll find my parents and we'll meet up with my cousins and everything will be amazing, and we'll have this great family dinner and I'll introduce them to you guys. There was never, _never_ a moment where I thought that we were going to end up meeting _before_ this was all over. And now that he's here, it's just… it's all wrong and all confusing and I don't know what to think. It wasn't supposed to mix like that."

Shaking his head wryly, Wally threw back, "Very little in our life works out the way we expect it to, family least of all. We made our own family out of that camp which was the last thing any of us expected from camp. I met up with my aunt and uncle after forever. I bet you he'll be momentarily freaked out, but then he'll be fine with it. I don't even know him, but I bet that's how he'll react."

"You really think so?" Harold asked quietly, voice small. It was moments like this where Wally hated his role of leader the most. He hated that they sat there and looked at him like he had all the answers when he was lucky if he had one. He was just as much of a mess as the rest of them and had little to no clue as to what was going on most of the time. How was he supposed to answer that?

Wally settled with honesty, "I really _hope_ so."

Swallowing harshly, Harold nodded, "Yeah, me too. Although, I've probably ruined it all by this point, running off like that. I must have looked so lame."

"He has no clue why you left the room and he'll understand when you tell him. If, uh, if you're planning on telling him," Wally backtracked quickly, grimacing.

"Be really honest, do you think I should?" Harold asked, giving Wally that serious look he hated again. Wally swallowed, trying to ignore the dull panic that flared at the thought that this kid's life was in his hands.

He shook of the melancholy, answering firmly, "Yes. It's amazing to be reconnected to my Aunt and Uncle again."

"Okay," Harold said, nodding, "Okay, yeah. I'll do it. I'm going to tell him."

"When are you going to do it?" Wally pressed when Harold fell silent.

"Now?" Harold half-suggested, half-answered, "I think if I try to do it at any other time, I won't end up going through with it. I'll talk myself out of it and just make myself miserable. I'll do it now."

"Okay," Wally half-smiled, "Let me ask Cam if they're done with introductions or whatever up there and we'll see if we can get Green Lantern to come back here? Cameron can lead him here and we'll talk to him about this. Sound good?"

Harold paused for a minute, steeling himself, before nodding. Wally ruffled his hair, ignoring the sudden static racing up his arm and the squawk of indignation from the younger boy. He put a finger to his eat and activated the comm device, "Hey, Icicle, you there?"

" _Yeah, what's up?_ " Cameron answered instantly.

"Introductions done?" Wally asked.

Cameron's voice was curious, not accusing, when he responded, " _As much as they can be with the Circus's leader MIA. You and Maser okay?_ "

"Yeah, we're good. Is there a chance you can get Green Lantern to come out down to Maser's room? The two of us have to talk to him about something," Wally said.

He could hear the raised eyebrow in Cameron's response, half a minute later, " _No problem. I'm leading him down to you now. What's going on?_ "

"Maser will let you know if he feels like it. I'm not going to say it over the comms where anyone could hear," Wally answered. He mainly meant that he didn't want Superboy to overhear them about it, but he also meant his own team. The Circus members understood that telling Wally something was basically the exact same as telling Cameron something or vice versa because the two of them didn't keep secrets from each other, but beyond that, secret was secret. If any of the other Circus members decided to tune in on the comms frequency, then they'd hear Harold's problem and Wally wasn't comfortable sharing his teammates' problems without their express permission and Harold hadn't said anything about that yet. He took his finger away from the comms, turning to Harold, "They're on their way. You want me to send Cameron away once Green Lantern gets here?"

Expression tense and miserable, Harold nodded. His hands were clenched tightly in his lap. For a brief second, Wally put a hand on Harold's shoulder, "I'll be here the whole time."

"Thanks," Harold said. He opened his mouth to say more, but then there was a knock on the door. Wally turned to Harold and tilted his head to the side. Harold nodded.

Quickly, Wally zipped over to the door and pulled it open. Cameron sent him a quick succession of symbols alright – stay – go – is it safe. Wally answered back quickly fine – go – safe as can be. Cameron nodded, saying goodbye to Green Lantern before walking off.

Confusedly, Green Lantern glanced behind him at Cameron's retreating form. Wally gestured him slightly into the room, "Could you come in here for a second? We just wanted to talk to you about something. I'm Supersonic, by the way. This is Maser. He has an… issue he'd like to address with you."

Trying to pull off a charming grin, Green Lantern threw his hands in the air, "Whoa, I've only been here for, like, a half an hour max! There's no way that I've caused a problem already!"

Harold snorted, "The Hal I know would _so_ be able to cause a problem within a half an hour of being in a place."

Green Lantern went very still. He choked out, "What did you call me?"

Harold tensed his shoulders and carefully removed his mask. He set it down on the bed next to him, looking up shyly through his lashes, "Hal Jordan. You can't seriously think I forgot it when we share the same name."

Green Lantern's entire expression slackened with shock, face paling as he glanced between the two metas in the room. Eventually, he hissed out, " _Harold?_ "

Harold nodded, shoulders curling further in on himself. Wally zipped over to him, settling down on the bed next to him and wrapping a loose arm around Harold's shoulders. He wasn't exactly comfortable in this kind of position, but Harold was obviously freaking out and he needed someone to keep him grounded. Wally ignored the way Green Lantern flinched at Wally's blatant use of powers.

After a second, Green Lantern practically fell into the only seat in the room – a small desk chair. He rubbed a hand over his face and cursed emphatically. Harold flinched at the sound. Seemingly just then noticing the state Harold was in, Green Lantern shook his head, reaching a hand out to do… _something_ before letting it fall back to his side again, "I'm just kind of in shock, you know? You were labelled as a _runaway_ ,Harold. And your parents had gone missing just a week or two before you split. People weren't sure if someone had gone after your parents _and_ you or if you'd just been so determined that you didn't want to go into child services that you ran for it. We had no idea if you were dead or alive. You were… you were in the camps this _whole time_?"

Harold was shaking his head no before Green Lantern – Hal – was even done speaking, "No, I wasn't… I – I was looking for my parents. I left to go look for them that week because my powers had just set in and I felt like I could take care of myself. And the police weren't looking into my parents' disappearances either. I looked for almost a year before the Collection Agency got me. I was the in the camps for three years. Then I got out a year ago to help Supersonic with the Circus."

Hal let out a shuddering breath, scrubbing his hands over his face again, letting out a much softer curse. He shook his head, rolling his shoulders back and sitting straight in his chair. Wally narrowed his eyes at the hero. Hal caught Wally's gaze, the whites of his mask widening in surprise for a second before carefully, hesitantly, Hal pulled one of his hands into a fist, a green ring on it glowing for a second before his entire suit melted away, turning into a normal civilian outfit with a worn aviator jacket.

Taking a deep breath, Hal said, "Look, I reacted to that badly. I'm sorry. You just kinda freaked me out. That was _not_ how I was expecting my day to go. Will you take a hug as an apology?"

Harold laughed wetly, "You always claimed that you were a manly man, but you always solved all of our fights with a hug."

"What can I say?" Hal shrugged, "Hugs solve everything between family." Wally thought back to his own family and tried to remember the last time his mother or father hugged him. He came up blank. There was a pause before Hal spread his arms, "So? Hug? Yes or no?"

In response, Harold threw himself at his older cousin, almost sending the two flying over the edge of the chair. Hal hugged Harold without abandon, pulling him close and squeezing his eyes shut, chin rested on the crown of Harold's head. Harold wasn't much better, fists bunched in Hal's jacket, little aborted sobs showing that he was trying his best to not cry. Wally tried not to feel too uncomfortable from his spot on the bed.

After a long, _long_ healing moment, the two cousins separated. They gave each other blinding smiles and Wally couldn't help giving a small smile of his own. Hal glanced at him in surprise, "Huh. From what I heard, it didn't seem like you knew how to smile." Wally's smile self-consciously dipped back into a careful neutral. Hal's shoulders dropped a little bit.

Harold was rolling his eyes, "I'm pretty sure the three times he's smiled in the time I've been talking to him is more than he's smiled in the past month."

"False," Wally immediately protested, scowling, "I smile more than three times a month!"

" _Now_ , maybe," Harold threw back. Wally opened his mouth to argue but found that he couldn't deny the statement. Harold stuck his tongue out victoriously.

Wally rolled his eyes, "Whatever. So, do you guys want me to go while you catch up? Or stay while you catch up? Or will there be no catching up?"

Harold shifted slightly, and Hal tilted his head to indicate that the decision was up to Harold. Frowning, Harold shrugged a little bit, voice soft and hesitant, "Um, could you stay while we catch up? I'm sorry, Hal. I just… I'm a little… I was surprised at seeing you, too, and I obviously don't know you as well as I once did, since you're a hero now. I just…" He trailed off.

Hal was already shaking his head, "It's no problem, really! I get it. You guys have obviously gone through some stuff together and you obviously respect Supersonic as a leader. I get it. You don't have to apologize." No matter what he said, though, Wally could see the tense lines in his shoulders and the sad tilt to his lips. Hal was upset that Harold didn't think that he could be in a room alone with Hal. Well, Hal was just going to have to get used to that.

Smiling shakily, Harold went to go sit back on the bed, "So, I have to know. Were you a Green Lantern already by the time I was labelled as, um, a runaway?"

Hal winced a little before admitting, "Yeah, I was. I've been a Green Lantern for a long time. I like it though. I was a little freaked out a first. It's quite the change to go from being a pilot at Ferris Air to being a Green Lantern. And I had to start taking orders again. The Green Lantern Corps is this weird hybrid between a military and a police force? I mean, on a lot of planets, those two things are one and the same anyways, but it was kind of new for me. And the Guardians – my bosses – have weird rules and get huffy about the stupidest things."

"You think any boss has weird rules and gets huffy about the stupidest things," Harold reminded him.

Hal laughed, "Okay, that might be true. I didn't punch this one in the-,"

Wally, who had been looking at Harold, glanced towards Hal when he went silent halfway through a sentence. But Hal wasn't there.

Standing up quickly, Wally asked, "Where'd he go?"

Harold was staring with his mouth wide open, "I… I don't know! He was right there and then he just disappeared! Bam! Gone!"

A crackle in his ear interrupted Wally before he could say anything, " _Supersonic! Black Canary, Ballistic, and Red Arrow just disappeared!_ "

Wally swore, running an aggravated hand through his hair, "Green Lantern just disappeared too!"

He heard Cameron swearing through the comms. Wally picked Harold up and ran them both to where the rest of the team was gathered, various expressions of shock decorating their features. Wally told them quickly, "I'm going to go take a lap or two around the country. See if anyone else is disappearing."

He flung himself out the door before anyone could respond.

The world was in _chaos_. Children were screaming and crying. There were cars crashing everywhere and out of control fires in other places. Holo City was almost completely deserted, maybe a hundred people there.

But Wally saw what was happening. He just wished it wasn't.

As quickly as he could, Wally made it back to the base in Louisiana. Aqualad was speaking before Wally had even come to a stop, "Is this occurring in other parts of America as well?"

Wally nodded despondently, "It's happening in the entire _world_. I made at least four laps around the world. All I saw were kids. Somehow, every single adult in the world has disappeared."

 **Author's Note: And we're finally getting back on track with the actual show. So, if you wondered where we were in the show, this is it. Thanks for reading! I'm going to ask for five more reviews for another chapter!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note: Gotta love hurricanes coming in and stopping school for a couple of days. It gives me some time to catch up and feel like I've got a handle on things again. Thanks as always for reading! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – You know, that didn't even occur to me, but that would totally happen, wouldn't it? I'll make sure to give you credit for the idea! Thanks for the review!**

 **HI – Thanks for the amazing review!**

 **Anett – I love Hal so much. He's one of my favourite superheroes ever. He's beautiful. Thanks for the amazing review!**

 **Guest – THANK YOU SO MUCH! No, seriously, glad you like it that much!**

WWWWWW

Wally ran a hand through his hair, breathing hard. The world had gone _insane_. When he'd been a kid, Wally had snuck sci-fi books and fantasy books into his reading stack at the library, nestling them deep into the textbooks when his father or mother would walk by. He'd read the books that described an apocalypse of sorts where the adults had all disappeared. It was a semi-common book plot and one that had _fascinated_ Wally.

So, he thought he'd been prepared for what would happen. Kitchen fires would start from the oven being left on, cars would crash from the drivers disappearing, juvies would empty as people made their escape. There was an endless list of bad things that would happen if the adults all disappeared.

That knowledge did _nothing_ to prepare him for the reality. He'd run most members of the Team and Circus across the world. Robin had contacted other teenaged heroes and antiheroes and villains and influential teenagers and had them leading rescue missions in whatever city or town they were in. Wally had sent the rest of the team to the places that Robin's contacts couldn't help. Wally himself had been sent _everywhere else_.

His priority, however, had been the camps. That was another thing that the books hadn't prepared him for. He'd mentally acknowledged that juvies were going to have mass breakouts. It hadn't even _occurred_ to him that the kids might try to leave the camps with the adults gone. It was… there was going to be some major backlash for this. _Major_ backlash. It was going to be a complete mess. But the kids were getting out. The kids were _getting out_. Not all of them, of course.

As fast as Wally was, there were people he couldn't save. Some of the kids were in the middle of experiments, in a situation where they really, really needed someone to be watching the machines. Some of the kids had been held up doing painting or something else in the working portion of the camps and had fallen, their support gone. Beyond that, there were some metahuman children who refused to leave. Some had been so fully convinced that they were monsters that they _wanted_ what happened to them in the camp, were determined that they deserved it. Some were sure that they'd be caught and punished, no matter what Wally assured them. And Wally only had so much time with the rest of the children in the world in danger. The meta kids who didn't want to go sometimes hid from him, sometimes attacked him to avoid being brought out. It horrified Wally, but he understood a little bit of where they were coming from. He just wished everything was different. He had to leave some of the kids behind to run the majority to Holo City. Once there, he instructed the hundred or so kids that had already been there to watch after the new kids, teaching them the ropes and making sure that they were as safe as they could be. Wally would promise to come back at some point and then run off to go save another group of kids.

He'd run back to the Louisiana headquarters when a summons had come in, Robin sure that they had some sort of plan. Wally hadn't been entirely reassured by that, but he'd picked up his people, bringing them back to the headquarters anyways.

Jinx and Zatanna were standing in front of a globe, eyes shut. A pale pink light lit Jinx's hands and glowed out from beneath her eyes. Zatanna was chanting some sort of gibberish that made Wally's nose crinkle. He turned to Robin instead, "What are they up to?"

"They're working on a tracking spell right now. So far, so good. Apparently the two of them have been exchanging magic knowledge together? And Zatanna knew the spell and was certain that Jinx could give her the power? I'm not entirely sure how it all went down. But they're currently in the process of locating the high source of power that would have been needed to pull off magic strong enough to make _every single adult_ disappear from the world. How did things go with you?"

"They went," Wally shrugged, sighing a little bit, "There were… there were a lot more dead kids than I ever wanted to see, but… Yeah, there's no but. There were a lot more dead kids than I wanted to see." He took a shuddering breath, rubbing over his face, "But I got a lot to safety, so that's good."

Rocket's voice was a soft spot between worry and frustration, "By 'got to safety,' do you mean broken out of camps?"

The Team members' heads whipped up, shooting over to look at Wally, startled eyes telling him that they hadn't even thought of that. Wally scowled fiercely, "It means I got them to safety. A lot of kids were already running away from the camps, some as far as ten or so miles away. Some kids had died in the camps because they'd been in… bad spots. Some kids refused to leave the camps. I got the ones who'd run and brought them to Holo City. I grabbed some others from the camps. And then I rescued some other kids in regular cities and stuff. They weren't particularly thrilled with being rescued by a metahuman, but whatever."

Cameron grimaced, "There's going to be a serious problem when we get the adults back. The uproar that's going to come from most of the kids in camps disappearing is going to be a nightmare. Also, dealing with all the kids in our city is going to be a mess. Our city's not that big."

Wally frowned, scrubbing a hand over his face, "Especially if you consider the fact that I grabbed some from other countries as well."

"Seriously?" Cameron groaned. Wally shrugged unrepentantly.

Aqualad shook his head, pulling the conversation back on track, "We can worry about that later. As for now, we need to know what we will face when Zatanna and Jinx locate the power source."

M'gann threw her arm in the air suddenly, sending Superboy, who was standing next to her, into a sharp duck out of habit. Lips twitching slightly, Aqualad nodded towards the Martian, "Yes, M'gann?"

Her eyes were bright when she said, "I think the adults are still here." The group stared at her, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. M'gann shook her head, holding her hands out beseechingly, "No, see, I was talking to an adult just a moment ago. He was a nice man who was kind of faded out. I was shocked when I saw him because he _was_ partially translucent, _and_ he was an adult. I asked him what had happened to him and he said that he could see both worlds."

"What do you mean by both worlds?" Artemis interrupted sharply.

"The earth split into _two worlds_! One world for children and one world for adults!" M'gann explained, excited and bright-eyed.

Harold blinked, "Why would this man be able to see both? Why would he be _here_?"

"I asked him that, too," M'gann responded, "He said that it's probably because he has this disease called… um… leukodys… um…"

"Leukodystrophy! Of course!" Robin shouted, smacking his forehead.

Artemis crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, "Want to explain that to those of us who weren't trained by Batman to know all the most random and weirdly useful information?" Cameron snorted.

Robin rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Leukodystrophy is a certain type of disease, but there's a specific version of it colloquially called Benjamin Button disease that, basically, de-ages the mind of the person with the disease. So, a middle-aged man can have the mind of a ten-year-old child."

M'gann nodded in agreeance, "Yes, that is precisely what the man said. I think that the spell was confused as to whether he was an adult or a child, so he was stuck somewhere in the middle between the worlds, able to see both."

Perking up, Rocket asked, "Is there a chance we can contact the Justice League through this guy? We can get the bad guys from all sides this way!"

Nodding seriously, Aqualad said, "We can try."

BBBBBB

At first, Bruce didn't know that anything had gone wrong. He and Diana were in deep discussion about the situation they had just left behind.

"I don't know how to feel about Supersonic," Bruce admitted reluctantly, Clark wandering over to join their conversation.

Diana frowned, "He is rather confrontational for someone who wishes to make a substantial alliance. He is also… flightier than I would have wanted for a leader. He spends an overly large portion of his time off doing other things for his own organization rather than working to strengthen the relationship between the two teams."

Bruce frowned, "Supersonic is also very… passionate about his team. I don't think there's anything he wouldn't do to save them. He has a unique way of thinking."

"You like him," Clark accused, leaning back up against the wall. Bruce wondered if he knew how similar he looked to his clone. He didn't think that Clark would appreciate him pointing it out.

Shrugging, Bruce answered, "I am not entirely opposed to him. I think he is an… adequate leader and I think he's working another angle to help all of us."

"What do you mean?" Diana asked sharply.

"I mean that Supersonic is trying to show us why it is a good idea to work with metahumans rather than push them out of sight, out of mind," Bruce answered, eyes dark beneath the white eyes of his mask.

Narrowing his eyes, Clark leaned forward, "And you think that's a good thing."

"I'm just saying that there's something going on here that we don't know about. And I don't like not knowing things. I never looked into the metahuman camps because they were good things meant for a good cause and there were no outright complaints beyond a few underground, mostly silent metahuman groups. Now? I think I might need to take a look," Bruce responded.

Diana opened her mouth to respond when a voice interrupted her, coming through their comms, " _Hey, guys. I need you back at the new Team headquarters_ now _. Something's happened,_ "

Diana groaned, "He has been there for less than an _hour_. How has something gone wrong already?" Clark shrugged and the three of them moved towards the zeta beams.

When they arrived, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Red Arrow, and Ballistic were pacing the living room, varying expressions of shock and confusion decorating their faces. Bruce growled out, "What happened?"

"The kids have disappeared," Hal answered immediately, earnestly. His fists were clenched, and his shoulders were up, a position he usually only fell into when someone he cared deeply about was in trouble. Bruce didn't think that Hal was close enough with any of the Team members to be having this kind of reaction. Hal was close to Red Arrow as a by-product of his friendship with Green Arrow, but Red Arrow was standing right there. As far as Bruce knew, Hal and Artemis barely knew each other.

Then the words Hal said caught up to Bruce and his voice dropped even deeper, a dark, dangerous sound, "They _what_?"

"They've disappeared," Black Canary answered, stepping forward, "We don't know where they've gone or what happened, but – as far as we can tell – every child on this team has disappeared into thin air. While we were having conversation with them. They did not fade out of existence and there was no bright light. They simply were there one second and gone the next. A quick scan of local news stations has revealed that the same thing appears to be happening worldwide." She gave him a look that dared him to make a comment. Her thick muscles bunched under her skin.

Diana shook her head, "That shouldn't be possible! What could have happened?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out," Bruce scowled before instructing, "Wonder Woman, find Zatara and see if he can sense anything out of the ordinary. Superman, gather the Justice League and send out a message to the general populace, explaining that we have the situation under control."

Ballistic crossed his massive arms over his chest, towering over everyone in the room, "But you don't have it under control. You have no idea what's going on."

"Neither do you," Hal reminded, raising his eyebrows.

Ballistic frowned, shrugging his shoulder, "I just don't think that you should be lying to all the people out there."

"Even if they don't have it figured out now doesn't mean that they won't have it figured out in the end. This gets rid of a useless panic," Black Canary responded, flipping a portion of her hair behind her back. It seemed to be a nervous tick, her hands running through the golden locks incessantly.

Rolling his eyes, Ballistic grumbled to himself, "Whatever." The two glared at each other.

In the course of the argument, Diana and Clark had gone off to do the tasks assigned to them, leaving Bruce in the room with Hal, Black Canary, and Ballistic.

Black Canary abruptly resumed her pacing, mouth twisted downwards in frustration, a muscle in her jaw twitching. She muttered, mostly to herself, "If whoever did this harms _one hair_ on the heads of any of those kids, I'm going to kill them."

Going to lean back against the wall, shoulders sagging, Ballistic threw back weakly, "Hopefully wherever they are, they're all together. This lot will take care of the rest of the kids. You know that."

The two were prevented from continuing their conversation by the sound of Wonder Woman rushing into the room, Zatara hot on her heels. Zatara was breathing hard, hands on his knees as he rushed to say, "There was an enormous spike of magical energy. I believe I know a spell to locate where the spike of magic came from."

"Do it," Bruce commanded, pressing a button that would allow for a holographic globe to appear in the air in front of them. He'd seen Zatara perform this spell before.

Clark returned from his own duties, walking slowly into the room with a dark frown on his face. The room was silent save for the sounds of Zatara's spell.

That is, it was silent until a phone started ringing. Bruce narrowly avoided jumping, heart still beating faster than he would have liked. Diana hissed, "Where is that coming from?"

Roy nodded towards the couch, pushing himself off the wall, "That's Robin's phone. I think he left it in the couch."

"You don't think it could be some kind of message?" Hal asked eagerly, leaning towards the couch area as Bruce made his way over to it, grabbing the phone and flipping it open.

He put it to his ear and growled, "What?"

Something on the other side of the phone made a delighted sound, " _It worked!_ " Batman opened his mouth to say something else, but the voice on the other end continued talking, " _Hi, so I've been told to tell you that the Team and the Circus members that are kids are okay! They've got me to pass messages. I can't put you on speaker, but I can tell them what you say!_ "

Bruce put his own side on speaker, "Where are they?"

The voice answered, " _They said to tell you that the world has been split into two worlds – an adult one and a kid one. I exist in both! That's why I can talk to them and to you! But yeah, two worlds. They're pretty sure they've located the, um, spot with a lot of power? No, the source of the high power, yeah. That. So, um, they wanted to know if you guys had a plan. Jinx thinks that you have to do something to the spot in the adult world and the kid world._ "

"Some days, I hate that this is normal," Ballistic muttered to himself.

Bruce spoke into the phone, "Stay on this line. I will contact you again when I have information." He turned it off speaker and let the phone fall onto the couch seat.

"So," Clark asked, "What's the plan?"

WWWWWW

Wally swept back into the headquarters. He'd gotten more of a workout in the time he'd been with the Team than he had in the entire past year combined. He was constantly out of breath from some catastrophe or the other! It was ridiculous!

While they had been waiting for the Justice League and adult Circus members to investigate from their side, Robin had realized that some of the kids had come to the conclusion that this was the perfect time to make-off with whatever goods or goodies they wanted to and there were robberies and raids going on _world-wide_. Wally and a few others had been deployed to keep the kids under control as well as they could. In other words, it was just about as much of a mess as you could imagine. Except worse. Way worse.

Plus, there had been a moment of panic when Harold and Robin had realized that when the two worlds combined, they were probably going to _combine_ , which meant that splicing was a real problem. If an adult and a kid were standing in the same place at the same time, there was a good chance that they would reform in that same space which could only be catastrophic. So, they'd gotten the attention of the Leaguers and made sure that they put people in certain spots. Of course, there were only so many heroes or metahumans willing to help and there were a whole lot of people, so there would probably be casualties, but there would be a lot less than there was before.

Wally grabbed a sandwich, intending to wolf it down and then get back out there, but Aqualad held out a hand to get him to stop. Slowing down, Wally nodded over to him, sandwich stuffed into his mouth, "What's up?" Artemis and Cameron gave him identical looks of disgust. Wally ignored them with practiced ease.

Aqualad's lips twitched, but Wally didn't know what he'd been intending to do because the Atlantean started talking immediately, "The Justice League has contacted us with a plan. We are ready to go put the worlds back together."

Wally swallowed his sandwich, "What do we have to do?"

"Stop Klarion the Witch Boy and get his crystal thing at the same time that the Justice League slash adult Circus members defeat the three wizards or whatever and get their crystal thing on their side," Lorraine answered, flaming arms crossed over her chest.

"Awesome," Wally muttered, "Who's Klarion the Witch Boy?"

"We'll give you guys more details on that on the ride there. We've got to get going if we want to at least kind of coordinate this," Robin answered, pulling something up on his wrist computer as he swept away towards the bioship, expression tight. His cape fluttered out dramatically behind him.

M'gann grimaced apologetically at Wally, "Robin just came back from Gotham and found a group of kids had started a fight in the streets and, um, without any adults to pull them off each other or get them to stop, well… one of them found a gun, thought it was fake." She swallowed harshly, and Wally nodded to her, lips turning down into his own grimace. It was bad out there. For all that kids told themselves that they'd be better without adults when they found themselves angry at their parents for this reason or that, adults were just as necessary to society as children were. They needed each other for different reasons. In worlds where they were split, no one benefitted.

Together, they solemnly followed Robin towards the bioship.

The plan was relatively simple: Zatanna and Jinx were their best bet for actually getting the crystal. Teekl the size-changing magical cat familiar would cause some serious problems that would apparently need Superboy, Artemis, Lorraine, and Garfield to address. Wally figured he'd trust the Team's judgement on that. The rest of them would try to go after Klarion, protecting the two magic-users from Klarion's defensive measures.

Wally knew that the actual carrying-out portion of the plan was likely to be a lot harder and more complicated and consist of a lot of ridiculously unnecessary set-backs, but he still had a pretty optimistic outlook on the plan. He believed that they could do it.

He hadn't quite accounted for the strength of Klarion's familiar. Superboy launched immediately down onto the familiar, which puffed up in rage, growing the size of a short bus with twice the anger and a whole lot more claws. Garfield had transformed into one of his cat shapes – a cheetah from what Wally could tell – and was launching himself at Teekl repeatedly, doing his best to make a dent in the familiar's thick fur. He quickly shifted from the cheetah form to something bigger and heftier. A triceratops if Wally had to guess. He wasn't too clear on the names of dinosaurs, but he was pretty sure he knew that one.

Lorraine was raining fire down on the beast, alternating shots with Artemis. They kept attacking Teekl from opposite sides, fire and arrows keeping Teekl's focus distracted. For all the Lorraine and Artemis were still short and tense with each other, they had grown as teammates. They still weren't so good when they were fighting literally side by side, but from opposite sides of an enemy without a chance of their weapons of choice getting a little too close, they worked together almost seamlessly.

Almost.

Wally watched as a badly timed fire shot hit a badly timed arrow, causing a small explosion in the air. It threw everyone _but_ Teekl back with concussive force, leaving the large cat to barrel towards where the rest of the team had converged on Klarion.

Who was also a lot fiercer than Wally had mentally given him credit for. The witch-boy was _insane_ , fire and weird glows twisting and altering his features until he looked like something out of the worst kind of nightmare. His powers were unbelievable; completely diverse abilities activated with nothing but anger and shouting, apparently.

In other words, he was very difficult to fight.

Wally found himself back to back with Aqualad, "Is there some sort of secret weapon that we're hiding or something? This isn't going so well!"

"I have brought something, but it is exceedingly dangerous to use," Aqualad responded, electrifying one of his water bearers.

Grimacing, Wally zipped out of the way of a flaming serpent, "Yeah, well, I'm willing to do dangerous right about now. What do we need to do?"

"It requires possession by an incredibly powerful Lord of Order. He is not likely to let someone go once he possesses them. He wishes to find someone with strong magical power to fully possess, but I believe he will take anyone," Aqualad panted, arms straining against another fire beast. Wally punched it, hissing as the heat went straight through his suit.

"Then let me do it! I'm, like, as far from 'magical' as I can get, so I'm sure I'll be able to convince this Lord of Order to wait around for a better host after me!" Wally shouted back, ducking and rolling a little bit away, ducking again as Aqualad jumped, twisting in the air as he cut the head off of… something.

He grimaced for a second before nodding, "It is in my bag, over there!"

Wally saw where he was nodding and made for the bag. He was stopped when Teekl rolled directly in front of him, tail thwacking into Wally's midsection. He flew through the air, slamming into the ground and just wheezing for a second, feeling something shifting strangely each time breath came into his lungs. He felt his ribs slot into a new position, not quite the right spot, but also healed more than they had been. It was going to have to do.

By the time he made it back up, though, someone had beaten him to the bag. He watched in horror as Jinx lifted up the helmet, eyes shining desperately. For one long, frozen moment, Jinx and Wally made eye contact, the helmet poised delicately over Jinx's bubble-gum pink hair. Wally reached a hand out, a ragged, "No!" ripping itself out of his throat as lightning shattered into life around him. He watched the helmet lower onto her head in slow motion. He wasn't going to make it. He wasn't going to be fast enough. There wasn't enough time to build up speed. No, no, no!

The helmet fell onto Jinx's head.

 **Author's Note: Kudos to Guest for coming up with the idea that there would be massive camp breakouts with all the adults gone! And that's it for this week! Sorry about Batman's portion. That was kind of meh in my opinion. Whatever. Enjoy the rest! Thanks for reading! Four more reviews for another chapter!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Note: Hello! Thanks for staying with this fic! I love all of you and hope you enjoy this next chapter! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – Thanks for the review!**

 **HI – I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

The moment the helmet made contact with Jinx's head, she shrieked, grabbing the helmet and tossing it away from her. She panted heavily, eyes wild. From where Wally was standing, he could see the red blisters covering Jinx's hands and the bright red spots where the helmet had come in contact with her ashen skin.

Her scream drew Klarion's attention and he screeched with incoherent rage as his demonic eyes landed on the helmet lying discarded on the grass outside of his circle. Teekl's head whipped up at the sound, freakishly large eyes narrowing in a way that was too human to be comfortable. The beast lashed it's tail out at the people surrounding it, sending Superboy and Lorraine flying. Lorraine collided with a tree, sickening crack echoing even over the sounds of battle. Robin sent her a cursory glance before dodging another flaming summon of Klarion's. Wally wanted to be sick.

Instead, he stood up on unsteady feet, waiting for a moment of dizziness to pass before he lurched forward, determined to make sure that the cat didn't get Jinx _or_ the helmet. He zipped over to where the girl was still standing, eyes wide and glazed over. Her hands were held out in front of her, shaking so hard it was a wonder they didn't start blurring. Dodging around Teekl was harder than it should have been and his movement around the giant beast made it nearly impossible for Artemis to accurately shoot the thing. Despite a week of them training together, she didn't know how to shoot with a speedster around the area of the target. There was no predicting where he'd be and how fast he'd get there.

That meant that Superboy and Garfield were left trying to fight the thing alone. Garfield was switching through his animal forms lightning fast, blurs of outlines of creatures, each one faster than the last, stronger, larger, smaller, smarter. Teekl was roaring with anger, trying to dance around a creature that couldn't decide how big or fast or strong it was. Superboy was taking advantage of the thing's anger, confusion, and clear goal to wail on the cat whenever it was distracted. So far, the plan seemed to be working. Wally only hoped that it worked long enough for him to get to the helmet and Jinx. All he needed was to get there and then he could get the two out of there, circling back to drop them off before using the helmet himself (although, he was a little wary about the whole getting-really-hot thing; Aqualad hadn't warned him about that bit).

Wally ducked and dodged around another sweeping paw and then, _finally_ , he was in the home stretch. Jinx was standing there in front of him, hair starting to escape from it's gravity defying hold, stretched and fizzled around her ashen skin. Wally didn't wait to check with her, instead just grabbing her around the waist and plucking the helmet (curiously cool and… _compelling_ in a way that made Wally slightly uncomfortable) off the ground as he went. He left the battlefield behind in an instant.

He turned around as soon as he could get enough distance to actually make the turn without skidding across the ground for a few hundred feet, heading towards the tree he'd seen Lorraine crash into. Maybe he could get Jinx to snap out of whatever daze she was in and get her to check up on Lorraine while she was at it. The two girls were obviously not able to re-join the fight at this point.

Wally skidded to a stop in front of the tree, setting the helmet down next to him and gently leading Jinx to sit next to Lorraine. He snapped his fingers in front of Jinx's face while also feeling under Lorraine's chin. She had a pulse, thank goodness. Wally felt a coil of tension release even as the battle raged around him. Wally turned back to Jinx, snapping his fingers.

She came to with a start, physically jerking back a little bit with a little stuttered breath. Wally pulled back a little bit so the first thing she saw _wasn't_ someone looming over her. Wally knew from personal experience (on both ends) that it was not good to loom over a waking camp survivor. Jinx took a few gasped breaths, sucking air noisily in through her open mouth. Wally waved a hand in front of her face and she flinched. Wincing a little, Wally spoke quickly, "Jinx, I need you to look after Firehawk. Neither of you can be in the battle right now, but I need you to keep her safe, okay? Okay? Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

A new voice interrupted before Jinx could respond, "You okay?"

Wally whipped around, leg going out and kicking the helmet behind him, Jinx and Lorraine protectively shadowed behind him, arm out to physically protect them from harm. He relaxed when he saw it was just Zatanna. No wonder she was worried. She'd been working right next to Jinx but hadn't been looking over at the metahuman when Jinx had put on the helmet. Zatanna would have only heard a scream and seen Wally make off with her. Of course, she was concerned.

Standing up, Wally nodded tersely to Zatanna, who crouched down to reach a hand out carefully to Jinx's burned face, "As much as we can be. Jinx is going to look after Firehawk. We have to get back into the battle."

He glanced over towards the battlefield, wincing in sympathy as M'gann got knocked out of the air by one of Teekl's paws only to smash into one of Klarion's fire beasts. He winced again as he remembered that fire was the Martian's greatest weakness. They really needed to get back to the battlefield.

Wally turned around, mouth open to say so, only to snap it closed in shock, eyes wide in horror.

Zatanna was just settling the helmet onto her head when Wally turned around. She had been possessed, had used the dangerous weapon that Aqualad hadn't even mentioned to the rest of the group. No, no, _no_!

Just like that, everything froze. The only thing in the world was Wally (and presumably, somewhere in France, Barry, blinking in confusion at the sudden momentary feeling of Speed Time, or maybe not even noticing the shift at all, too immersed in his own work), frozen with horror and disappointment. Disappointment in himself. Look at him! Look at the three girls who had placed their loyalty and trust with Wally. Look at how he betrayed them. Lorraine was still unconscious on the ground, flaming hair scattered over the ground, eyes motionless beneath their lids. There was blood scraped off onto the tree she'd hit, gashes along her arms and probably worse ones on her back. Jinx was still slightly shell-shocked, barely comprehending the instructions she'd been given. There were burns framing her face and coating her hands, tears starting to fill into her wide pink eyes, hair in more of a disarray than Wally had ever seen it. Zatanna was partway through her transformation, a golden light shimmering around her as she lifted into the air, suddenly materialized cape frozen as it fluttered through the air behind her.

Wally looked back towards the team. Garfield was halfway through a transformation, an ominously large paw heading straight towards his unprotected back. Superboy was lunging through the air to stop it, arm stretched out, but too far away to really do anything. M'gann was prone on the ground, Artemis standing over her, back bowed almost over as she aimed an arrow straight up at a fire demon lunging for the two of them. Harold and Robin were back to back, batarangs and energy shooting out around them, expressions set and deadly serious. They were surrounded by fire demons. Aqualad had caught sight of Zatanna and his expression was vulnerable, afraid in a way Wally hadn't been able to picture on Aqualad. He was genuinely terrified of what was going to happen.

And behind them all, crystal safely under his protection and mad fire dancing around him in a mockery of beauty, his face twisted into some sort of indescribable horror, was Klarion the Witch Boy.

Wally felt his soul ignite, anger sparking into lightning that curled around his limbs and licked up through his veins. How _dare_ Klarion hurt what was Wally's own? How dare he hurt one the Speed Force had claimed for itself? He had no clue what ancient powers he was meddling with when he hurt Wally this way.

A voice speaking into the time void sent all of the electricity trailing away like a splash of cold water, "The Witch Boy is mine. Do not interfere."

Floating slightly above Wally, Zatanna had completed the transformation sometime while he'd been looking out at the rest of the team. And whatever ancient spirit Zatanna had been possessed by was somehow able to move this way, to be this completely within Wally's own world, the one he thought was uniquely accessible to speedsters. Wally stammered a little bit, taken aback by the shadow that seemed to be the only thing underneath the thing's helm.

The voice seemed to be rolling his eyes (did he even have eyes? Was he rolling Zatanna's eyes?), "I am Nabu, although in this form, possessing a human this way, I am Doctor Fate, a Lord of Order. My place in this world is to protect it from Lords of Chaos such as the Witch Boy." He paused before seeming to sneer, "Oh, I see. You wished to take on my helmet to save this girl the fate of becoming my vessel. You believe that I would not stay in such a magicless vessel as yourself. You underestimate my desperation to have a vessel to aid me in this war. I would have taken even your inferior form. At least you have a strong connection to the Speed Force. Although, take care that you do not make your connection _too_ strong. If you were to run too fast…" Doctor Fate trailed off before snapping his attention back on Wally, "The Speed Force does not need to interfere in this battle. Now that I have control, I can easily defeat the Witch Boy."

Wally swallowed, heart thudding painfully in his chest. He closed his eyes and tried to keep his tears in. He was sure they would do nothing to move this pitiless god, "You have to let her go when you defeat Klarion today." He couldn't help the tear the prickled at the corner of his eye.

He knew that Nabu couldn't see it through the goggles, but Doctor Fate seemed to soften slightly regardless, "She is a powerful host, with magic capabilities far beyond what I had expected to form within humans. And she will only get stronger. But," and here he hesitated, "My time with my last host might have… softened me. Although I do not plan on giving up this body, I will… hold onto your words and make sure they get to this girl. Now, _slow down_."

Closing his eyes tightly for a moment, Wally tried to muster up a glare for Nabu (he didn't quite manage it. Somewhere between the realization that this spirit had been in this helmet for a very, very long time and the idea that Wally found it hard to hold onto his hate for anything, he'd come to the conclusion that he pitied Nabu more than anything else), "Her name is Zatanna. Or, well, that's her superhero name. But, at least, that's something. Her name is not 'my host' or 'this girl' or 'this body.'"

Doctor Fate sighed, "You are testing my patience, boy." Wally stood his ground. Doctor Fate gritted his teeth and muttered testily, "I will hold onto your words and make sure they get to _Zatanna_. Now _release us_."

Wally figured that there was no further way to push Doctor Fate, so he mustered the control that would allow him to slow down, putting time back into its normal rhythm. He blew out a breath and the world burst into colourful, horrifying motion around him.

Then the whole battle screeched to a halt as Doctor Fate rose higher into the air and shouted, "Klarion! Your fight is with _me_!"

Aqualad was sending Wally an expression of horror from over the field. The Team members were making the connection between Doctor Fate's sudden appearance and Zatanna's disappearance. The Circus members were stuck in confusion. Klarion let out an unholy shriek, all attention successfully devoted to Doctor Fate.

Doctor Fate's first move was to utterly destroy the enemy. Klarion, unprepared and at least a little bit tired after so long maintaining the spell, stood no chance against Doctor Fate's immediate assault. Nabu hadn't even tried to get a monologue out. More heroes could learn from him, honestly. At least, in that one department. Maybe they shouldn't learn from the rest of him. With a few shouted spells and bright bursts of a golden symbol against Klarion's forcefield, the shell dropped. Robin took a hesitant step in before whipped out his grappling hook and grabbing the thing, dragging it back to him before Klarion could recover. Aqualad, Harold, and Robin combined their forces to destroy the thing.

It was at about that time that the world exploded into light.

Suddenly, there was an enormous shriek, Black Canary's familiar cry almost comforting despite the volume of it. There were heroes sweeping through the air above them and fallen sorcerers around the circle. Klarion took the moment of distraction to throw himself and his familiar backwards into a portal. Doctor Fate hmphed imperiously.

Garfield switched into his gorilla form, letting out a mighty roar before beating his chest proudly. Some of the other gathered heroes (Wally honestly wasn't sure what some of their names were) added their own whoops to his roar. There was a momentary burst of happiness through the group as they realized that they did it; they brought the worlds together!

Then two shouts shattered the moment. Dinah cried out, "Firehawk!" She dove towards Jinx and Lorraine, sliding to her knees as Kelvin barrelled after her, the rest of the Circus members not far behind. Wally was worried to see that Lorraine still didn't seem to have stirred.

Zatara's cry was just as heart-wrenching, " _What did you do to Zatanna_?"

Doctor Fate gazed down at him, somehow conveying his disregard, "She offered herself to me in order to win the battle. It was an intelligent decision. These children would not have been able to defeat Klarion without my aid."

Zatara stated coldly, "It looks as if even _with_ your aid, they did not defeat Klarion. Let me daughter go."

Something in Doctor Fate's posture stiffened, his voice taking on the inflection of a sneer, "All the more reason for me to stay in this host." He paused for a moment before making eye contact with Wally. He sighed, "All the more reason for me to stay with _Zatanna_." Zatara glanced to his side. Wally watched as he eyes narrowed onto Wally's form, insignia-less suit irregular among the battlefield, but still as recognizable, but he didn't say anything.

Voice pleading, Zatara turned back to Doctor Fate, "Take me instead." Wally jolted, eyes widening. Doctor Fate gazed carelessly down at Zatara. Desperation forcing him to take another step forward, Zatara entreated, "My mature is much more mature and strengthened than hers. Zatanna is still just a child. You cannot do much with the magic she currently has. I would be a much stronger host."

"She will one day grow stronger than you could even imagine," Doctor Fate intoned. Wally felt a chill run down his spine. He had never been too fond of things that were fated to happen.

"And by that day, you could already have defeated Klarion if you were to take me on as your host," Zatara argued. The rest of the battlefield was silent, the emotions of the moment forcing everyone into tense silence. Wide eyes were all directed towards the confrontation. Each person was simultaneously begging Nabu to take the deal and not take the deal. If Zatanna were to remain Nabu's host, she would be essentially dead, her control of the body gone. If Zatara were to take on the role of Nabu's host, Zatanna would be devastated and would likely blame herself. There was no way for her to win.

Wally felt the sick feeling of guilt crawl up his throat and rest there, leaving a lump in his throat and tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. This was his fault, all his fault. How could he have _done_ this? He should have been faster, should have been able to get to the helmet before Jinx even tried to put it on. How stupid had he been? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Not fast enough, not good enough. Wally drowned in the feeling.

After a long, tense pause, a light swirled around Doctor Fate and his feet lowered towards the ground. They touched down just as the helmet raised off of Zatanna's head, floating over to where Zatara was standing.

For just a moment, Zatanna and Zatara stood facing each other, eyes wide and devastated. Zatara swallowed, helmet tucked under his arm. He wrapped his other arm around Zatanna, whispering into her ear, "I love you, Zatanna. I love you so much."

Her voice was ragged with fear and devastation, "Please, father. Please, don't go. I'm so sorry."

"I love you," Zatara whispered one last time before gazing out at the gathered crowd of heroes and metahumans, "Please, take care of her." He whispered one last, "I love you," into his daughter's hair before pulling the helmet over his head.

As the light enveloped the man, Zatanna sobbed, "I love you. I love you, dad. I love you." She continued to sob out the words as she crumpled to the ground, Artemis and M'gann racing to pull her into their arms, holding her tight as she cried.

Doctor Fate flew off without saying another word.

"What are we going to do?" Superboy asked, hovering awkwardly back behind the girls, expression crushed and vaguely puppy-like.

"We will take her back to headquarters. She will move permanently into her quarters there. We will gather her belongings as soon as we can," Aqualad answered, expression soft and… understanding. The Team all looked so heartbroken.

Dinah spoke up, voice grim, "I really don't mean to intrude, but the Circus members need to get back to _a_ headquarters immediately. Firehawk is really hurt. We need to get her to a medbay as soon as possible."

As one, all of the heroes looked over to where the rest of the metahumans were gathered, shoulders hunched defensively and expressions horribly wary. Wally zipped through the heroes, joining his own people, habitually reaching out and pressed two gloved fingers to Lorraine's neck. She was still breathing. Wally frowned, "Do you know what's wrong?"

Dinah grimaced, hands shaking, "I… I think," she swallowed harshly and trailed off.

Wally turned to Cameron for a translation. Cameron was just as grim when he reported, "We think her neck is broken."

Wally's stomach dropped. His hands started shaking – quickly moving to a stage of vibration – and he gently brushed his fingers over the back of Lorraine's neck. Right as he felt something weird in the shape of the bone, Lorraine twitched in his arms. Wally took a brief second to bury his face in his hands and just _shake apart_. Then he pulled himself together, turning to face the heroes, "I don't think I can get her to Holo City without damaging her further. Do you… do you have a doctor who would be willing to treat her?" It hurt Wally to ask, terrified him to even think about trusting Lorraine in the hands of a human doctor, but even if he could get a teleporter from the city to get over to him, there was no telling what a teleportation would do to a broken neck. Wally wasn't willing to risk it if he didn't have to. He hoped he wouldn't have to.

Batman answered immediately, "We will call in a doctor to bring to your joint headquarters. Martian Manhunter can bring her onto the bioship using his telepathy so she will not be jostled." Wally nodded to him, grateful and scared all at once. There was nothing else he could do, though.

Beside him, Garfield slipped a hand into his. The whole team knew about his aversion to touch, but Wally was willing to ignore that for the moment, pulling Garfield in close, swinging Harold in on his other side, holding his arms comfortingly around his teammates. Kelvin was gently picking up Jinx bridal style, cradling her despondent form to his massive chest. Dinah had taken hold of Cameron the same way Wally had Gar and Harold. The Team was still wrapped around Zatanna, but they were gazing at the metahumans with open pity and, maybe, a little bit of fear. For Lorraine's safety? Wally wasn't sure. He wasn't up to interpreting facial expressions right now. All his thoughts were on the safety of his team.

He honestly didn't remember much of the ride back to the base. He remembered standing with the doctors as they guided Lorraine to a surgery room, gently closing the door on Wally's distraught features, his distorted reflection staring mournfully back at him in the shiny metal of the door.

He'd gone through the motions of checking each of the other Circus members over, putting salve and bandages over Jinx's wounds. He instructed Dinah to take Jinx to her room, telling them to rest together that night. He told Kelvin to do the same with the boys, but Cameron shook his head, muttering, "Someone's gotta check out the city. I'll go in your place." Wally tried to protest, but Cameron insisted, and Wally saw through the flimsy excuses to the painful desire to be doing _something_ to take away the cold feeling in his heart. So, he nodded and ran Cameron to the city.

Wally ran back to the base and made sure that Kelvin, Garfield, and Harold were in a room, but found that Harold was out in the waiting room of the medbay. Sighing, Wally closed his eyes and rushed there, slowing to a stop when he saw Harold sitting with his head bowed, hands clasped against his neck. Frowning a little bit, Wally sat down next to Harold, resting a hand on his back gently, "What's up?"

"Why do I feel like every time something good happens to me, it has to be balanced by something awful? I find Hal and now Lorraine is really, really hurt," Harold mumbled. He pulled his knees up and leaned over, putting his head on Wally's lap and melting into the movement. He closed his eyes and swallowed, "I'm just really tired of being afraid of good things."

Wally leaned his head back against the wall, "Someday, we'll make it through this. We'll get the Light and the heroes will finally realize what's going on at the camps. And life will finally turn around for us. Someday, we'll be able to get something good without having to work our butts off for and we'll be able to get something good without being suspicious of it. We just… we just have to work for it."

"You shouldn't have to," Hal's voice came from a connecting room. Wally jumped a little bit, but Harold didn't even move. Wally didn't say anything, so Hal continued, "What happened to you in those camps? Why don't you speak out? You have a lot of people in that city from what I've heard. With that many, you could make a difference, get your voice heard."

Lips twitching down into a frown, Wally sighed, "It's not that simple."

"Why not? We are, shockingly enough, a democracy. If people see what's going on, if it's really as bad as it seems to be, then people are going to do something!" Hal argued.

Harold laughed humourlessly, a cold grating laugh that Wally knew well, "I think you might be getting Earth confused with one of the other planets under your protection. Humans have had, what? Nine years of getting inundated with the idea that we are worthless, horrible monsters will pretty much make sure that they won't be up in arms about us. I mean, the _entirety_ of humanity would have to face the fact that they let us go through this. Every known country has laws restricting or abolishing the human rights of metahumans. America doesn't even have close to the worst conditions."

"You don't trust humans. You don't trust us to do the right thing," Hal realized.

"Should we, Hal? After what they did to us, to our family, to our _kind_?" Wally asked, voice low and bone weary.

Hal's face crumpled into a frown and he hesitantly moved closer, sitting on the bench on the other side of Harold, "And what about the Team? Or the Justice League? Surely you've met _some_ good humans in your travels."

Harold's voice was shy and tired and so, so small when he said, "I… I think you might be."

For most people in most situations, that would be insulting. Not in this situation with these people. The idea that Hal's own cousin was sceptical on the idea of trusting him still had to hurt for Hal, though. The same kind of hurt that Wally had seen flash across his Aunt's face when he'd admitted his own opinion of humans. Wally and all of the metahumans under him _knew_ that generalizing was bad. Generalizing was what caused all of this in the first place. Humans generalized all metahumans as dangerous and cast out their entire group. Wally _shouldn't_ generalize humans the same way, but… Unlike the humans who had had nothing done to them by metahumans, metahumans were actually hurt and tortured and put down by humans. It still wasn't a good reason to be distrustful towards all humans, but, well, tell that to Wally's subconscious. Tell that to the subconscious of every Circus member and every member of Holo City.

Carefully, projecting his movements, Hal stood up out of his chair and crouched in front of the two of them. Slowly, oh so cautiously, Hal pulled the two of them into a hug, tightening it once he realized that they weren't going to pull away.

Letting out a shuddering breath, Wally's hands clenched before loosening. Hesitantly, he let himself relax into the hug in a way he wasn't sure he ever had. Hugs had been rare and stiff, formal affairs at home and there certainly weren't any hugs in the camps. Anyone since then had been quickly pushed away or dodged completely. But Wally was so tired of denying himself this, of being _afraid_ of this. So, Wally melted into the hug from a human who was practically a stranger. He let himself melt into the hug and he just held on tight and let someone else be the adult for once.

 **Author's Note: The thing with Jinx will be explained in time, I swear! I know that was not how a lot of you were expecting that scene to go. Thanks for reading!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note: What a guys, what a week. As always, glad it's over and I get to be writing this story for you guys. Hope you like it! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **notSoLonely – Yep! Congratulations! Thanks for the review!**

 **HI – Haha, yeah. Not a lot of people seemed to see the Jinx thing coming. Thanks for the review!**

 **Annett – I'm glad you liked it! And I adored writing the Hal scene. I love that man. Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Unfortunately, one emotional conversation with a single member of the Justice League did not fix all of their problems. It helped, certainly, and was likely to help them a lot in the future, but it wasn't the cure-all that Wally would have preferred.

Instead, there was a night of restless waiting in front of Lorraine's hospital room, Hal and Harold trying to keep the mood as light as they possible could. It didn't work very well. At one point, Wally had run to grab Cameron from Holo City, taking a moment to survey the work his second in command had done. It seemed like there weren't any breakouts from their rehabilitation centre and the kids were getting settled in pretty well. Luckily, the adults had all been willing to take in a couple of kids each, so everyone managed to get into a home without one adult taking care of twenty kids or something ridiculous like that. It still wasn't _home_ for the kids, but it was better than the camps. Wally had talked to the kids and made sure that they had a basic understanding of what Holo City was and who he and the Circus were. He'd made sure that they were all checked out and had check-ups with a therapist. Of course, that wasn't particularly easy because there were six certified therapists in all of Holo City and something like a thousand new kids. The therapists were going to be worked hard and the kids weren't going to get the immediate attention they probably needed, but it was the best he could do with the time he had.

When Wally and Cameron had returned, Cameron had refused to leave the room and instead had fallen asleep next to Wally, heading leaned back against the wall in a position that was probably going to leave his neck sore for days. Twice, Garfield sidled into the room and quietly asked for any news and twice he was sent back to Kelvin with no new information. Wally grabbed something to take a look at some of the information that the Alliance had sent him and spent most of his night doing that while Hal and Harold caught up with each other, occasionally falling asleep. The whole night was nerve-wracking and required a whole lot more patience than Wally had ever claimed to have.

By the time a doctor came out to greet him at around eight in the morning, stress had worn lines into his face and the rest of his companions were sleeping on chairs around the room. The doctor waved Wally into another room so they could talk without waking the others. Wally was speaking almost before the door was closed, "What's the news?"

"First of all, I want to inform you that Firehawk's… abilities wore out at some point while she was sleeping, and her face was revealed. Please note that none of the doctors or nurses who were present would ever use this against her or speak of it to anyone else. I just wanted you to be forewarned before you see her without a mask or her abilities activated," the doctor said seriously, brushing a stray strand of hair away from her eyes. Wally nodded to her and she continued, "That being said, I have never worked with a metahuman before. There is a lot about this situation that is unprecedented."

She opened her mouth to say more, but Wally cut her off, "I just spent all last night awake waiting for news. Please just tell me what you mean. I know you haven't worked with metas. I know there's a lot about all of our abilities that no one knows. What is Firehawk's status?" It was a lot ruder than Wally wanted to be to the person who had kept Firehawk alive through the night, but he was tired and stressed and scared for a member of his family and this human was standing in his way. He deserved a little bit of snapping.

Blinking slightly, the doctor swallowed and answered, "Her neck is broken. We tried to repair it the best we could, but there's only so much we can do. We tested her to see if she was paralysed and the answer was… confusing. It was yes and no. When she has her powers activated, she is not paralysed. When her powers are not activated, she is paralysed. We… aren't really sure what's going on. Something about her abilities is allowing her to move. We don't yet know how much movement she is capable of with her abilities activated, though. She has been too tired for us to perform any intensive tests."

"Is she able to be transported?" Wally asked. He asked that instead of breaking down into tears because _Lorraine was paralysed_ , instead of full-body twitching at the idea of this woman doing tests on a member of his team, instead of burying his hands into his hair and just rocking back and forth until his life finally pulls together.

"Although my _recommendation_ is that she not be moved for at _least_ a week, I know heroes too well and I know that you'll whatever you want anyways, so I'll say that she can be moved as early as tomorrow as long as proper precautions are taken," the doctor responded archly, looking rather put-upon.

Sighing, Wally bit his lip, "Look, I'm sorry. I've been rather awful to you. I'm just…"

The doctor sighed back, "Trust me, I've worked with superheroes long enough to realize that this is just par for course here. Heroes are rather impatient. They're going to want answers first and common courtesy second. You're actually one of the first to say sorry the same day, though, so that's nice at least." Wally tried to lighten his expression into something appropriately contrite, but the doctor just sighed at him again, "I don't know you. I don't know your life. But I can see that you're extremely suspicious of me or any… humans working on or with Firehawk. Unfortunately, she's my patient and I am going to take care of her. You can ask me what is going on and you can shadow my every step if it makes you feel better, but I'm going to keep treating her and working with her to regain as much movement ability as I can until she is recovered, alright?"

"Or," Wally offered, "I can take her back to doctors that I actually trust, and I won't have to shadow them the entire way around. That works too."

"You would rather take her away from her team?" The doctor shot back, expression tightening, "Even when family and friends are an integral part of the healing process? Even when having an incredibly strong support system around her will be much more likely to stop her from developing depression once she realizes that she is, at least some of the time, _paralysed_?"

Wally flinched back, pain lancing across his expression, and the doctor's face crumpled into regret. She passed a hand wearily over her eyes, "Obviously we're both not in the right mindset to be having this conversation, but it needs to be had. Supersonic, I can take care of this girl. I _will_ take care of this girl. I swore an oath when I became a doctor. I'm not going to say she cannot be saved, cannot get the same treatment just because she's a metahuman. I _swore_ that I would _never_ base my services off of what a person is. I will _never_ change that. Especially not when all I see when I look at Firehawk is a scared girl who wants her family, a scared girl who never wanted any of this to happen to her. I don't see a metahuman; I see someone who's hurting."

Wally's hands curled into fists and he clenched his jaw, "Most people aren't like you."

The doctor shook her head sadly, "You've just been meeting all the bad ones, then. I think you'll find that most people _are_ like me." She looked at him for a moment later before saying sadly, "I have a kid brother who's about your age. Well, I'm assuming that you're in your mid-teens. You look like it. But I have a kid brother your age. And imagining him going through the kind of stuff that the Team goes through? And, I presume, what your own team goes through? That _horrifies_ me. I couldn't imagine him doing the kinds of things you guys do. But I know that if he did do this, he'd be _so_ scared. He would try to pretend that he wasn't, but he would be. And he would have such a hard time trusting people. When you, day after day, see people doing the worst things humanity can do, how can you trust them?"

"I don't need a therapy session," Wally said, voice cold. He was emotional from what happened to Lorraine, from Zatanna plight, from his breakdown last night. He didn't need this random lady psycho-analysing him like she had any idea what he'd gone through. He didn't need all these humans being _nice_ and _understanding_. He wanted to be afraid of them, to be secure in the idea that it was us-versus-them, in the idea that they would never understand metas. It was easier… No. _No_ , easier wasn't the right word. Wally didn't know if there was a right word. He was scared of change as much as he was scared of the present. The evil you know and all that. Because if most humans were good and pure and cared about people no matter what, then why did Wally suffer everything he suffered? Why did people target him and his kind? If people were so _kind_ , then why haven't they saved the metas? Why have they let this happen?

The doctor's voice was oh so sad when she said, "I think you forget that there are people on the Team who run into the same problems you do. Miss Martian is an alien and most of what she sees of humanity is the crime she stops. And yet, she _loves_ humans. She thinks they're amazing."

Wally shook his head, "Are we done here?"

"… Are you going to let me continue treating Firehawk?" The doctor pressed, eyes intent.

Wally closed his eyes for a brief second, "Yes."

"Good," the doctor said, moving towards the door, "Then, I suppose I should ask if you'd like to see her?" She didn't seem to be expecting an answer because she just walked out of the door, not even seeing if he was going to follow. Wally shook his head bemusedly and followed her. It was time to talk to Lorraine.

KKKKKK

Kaldur watched with careful eyes as M'gann and Artemis walked Zatanna into the kitchen. This was her first morning living in the headquarters. Kaldur was just sorry that – if this had to happen – she had to live in these temporary quarters first. He would have liked to provide her with something a little more permanent in this situation. He felt incredibly guilty for allowing this all to happen in the first place. He should not have brought the Helmet with him. He should have left it back at the Cave. This was all his fault.

A noise near the door of the kitchen caught his attention and he watched as Hal and Maser walked into the room together. They both looked rumpled and sleep-deprived, weaving slightly as they stood, yawning into the room. Kaldur felt another spike of guilt drive itself through his heart. There was little he could have done to prevent Firehawk from hitting that tree, but he still felt as if it were his fault. How could it not be?

Loathe to break the silence, but desperate to know, Kaldur asked cautiously, "How is Firehawk?"

Maser startled, head whipping up as if he hadn't even realized there were others in the kitchen. He moved away from Hal, going to the other side and starting to dig through the pantry. He answered over his shoulder, weariness etched into every syllable, "She's alive. They, um, aren't entirely certain what's going on. When her powers are activated, she's just recovering from a broken neck. When her powers aren't activated, she's paralysed from the neck down."

M'gann gasped, hands flying to her mouth, "Oh no!"

Maser turned his head, appraising her, before his shoulders slumped, "It's… not ideal. But we'll work through it. Her doctor has already offered to stay work with Firehawk for the duration of her healing process, so that's something."

"How," Artemis began, hesitantly, "How long can Firehawk keep her powers activated?"

Maser shrugged miserably, "I don't really know, honestly. It's not like we tested that kind of thing. It depends on what she's doing. I know that. Um… I know she's gone at least 24 hours with her powers activated, but beyond that, I don't know. There's a lot about all of our powers that we don't know."

That was precisely why the world claimed that metahumans were so dangerous. And yet… and yet, looking at the defeated slump of Maser's shoulders, the way he curled into himself as far from the rest of the people in the room, the _human_ pain wrapping itself around his voice, how could Kaldur ever see them as anything more dangerous than anyone else? The powers did not make metahumans _dangerous_ , it made them _scared_.

And _yes_ , scared can mean dangerous, but only when people give them reason to feel like the only way to stop being scared is to lash out. Did people ever give metahumans a chance to stop being scared before they just assumed dangerous and locked them up? Did anyone give metahumans a chance to get used to their powers? How hard would it be to control their abilities if they had support instead of hatred?

Kaldur shook his head. It was pointless musing over the what-ifs and what-could-have-beens. This alliance was a chance to do better. This was their chance the change the course of history. This alliance would not only topple the light, but they could help metahumans too. Kaldur was not sure if the rest of his Team would aid him in this goal, but… looking at the clear sadness in the girls' eyes, at the consolatory hand Hal laid on Maser's shoulder, Kaldur thought that there was a pretty good chance that they would help him.

Any satisfaction he could have gotten from that thought was wiped away from Black Canary came flying into the room, mask skewed slightly on her face and hair in a disarray, obviously still wearing her sleep clothes, "Klarion took Jinx!"

VVVVVV

Vandal Savage watched with hooded eyes as Klarion reappeared in the room, dropping the sorceress before immediately leaving and reappearing on his seat, a bright silhouette on a screen surrounding the girl.

Jinx blinked and stumbled a little bit, eyes smarting at the bright lights spotlighting her in the otherwise pitch-black room. She glared up at them, eyes sharp and fierce, but also very scared. It amused Vandal. He watched as she grew frustrated with the silence, with the staring. She knew very well who had taken her and what she was facing right now. She was a fierce little thing, so much untapped power, so much _potential_. This creature would become a sensual being of pure _destruction_ so long as she was no longer tethered to that speedster. Jinx had no _idea_ of the magnitude of her powers.

Queen Bee was the first to speak, "Hello, Jinx. We have been waiting to talk to you for a long time." As her words finished, her silhouette dimmed into an image of her, smirk playing around her lips and bust leaned over her arms.

Lex Luthor spoke next, "You intrigue us. It is so _fascinating_ to see someone as powerful and… _temperamental_ as you willing to ignore all of your base values and work with _heroes_." His image appeared on the screen next.

The Brain didn't give her a chance to speak, "You cannot deny that you do not agree with your leader's idea to submit to the heroes this way." His own silhouette gave way to his… _form_.

Klarion added a killer blow, "You even lower yourself to learning base forms of magic because no one is there to teach you how to use your own. You cannot imagine the things you can do with your power. It's beautiful _chaos_. But no one bothered to try to find you a teacher."

Ra's al Ghul said the final piece, "We wanted to meet the girl who would work with the heroes who hunted her down."

It was too much for the girl. Her little fists balled with rage, pink light filming over her eyes and engulfing her fists. She shouted at them, "Say it to my face! You're too scared to come tell me yourself!"

Finally, Vandal Savage revealed himself, leaning forward, "Yes, Jinx, we are. Your power is _awe-inspiring_. We should have good reason to fear it. To fear _you_. You are endlessly powerful. More powerful than Doctor Fate. He rejected you, didn't he? You tried to put the Helmet of Fate on and he told you that you were not worthy, that even he was not desperate enough to debase himself with a host who has such _chaotic_ magic." Vandal watched as Jinx's expression crumpled, fierce lines still running around her eyes and mouth, showing that she was attempting to keep up a façade of strength. It would be amusing if it wasn't so pitiful. Oh, what the world has created. This was a girl who could bring them all to their knees and here she was, weak as any other hero, scared and desperate because the world tore her down. Even though Vandal saw her only as a means to an end, he could still recognize the tragedy that this was.

Jinx swallowed harshly, breathing hard in the room, the pink around her hands dimming, "How do you know that?"

"Because Nabu is a big old jerk!" Klarion shouted, face morphing into something grotesque and disturbing. A glare from Luthor caused the expression to relax.

Jinx shook her head, strength coming back into the colour around her fists, "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing," Queen Bee promised, leaning forward even further, "But we can give you everything. We've already said it: you're powerful, more so than you have ever realised. We do not want to face you on the battle field. We want you to join our side. Not only to keep your family safe when they end up being on the losing side of the war, but also because there is so much potential in you. You could do _so much good_ if you worked with us and let us help you."

"Do good? I could do good?" Jinx asked, a touch hysterical, "You are villains! You do bad things! You hurt Firehawk just _yesterday_!"

"You do bad things as well," Ra's al Ghul reminded her, not unkindly, "How many people have you killed to do what you thought was necessary? How many people have you left behind in awful places in order to save the ones that you considered were worth more to save? You and your team are just like us. There was just confusion, a misinterpretation. Firehawk was hurt because the heroes were in your way, because they came between us We needed better communication, a bridge between us if you will."

Vandal took back over, delivering the finishing blow, "Jinx, we want to keep you safe so you cannot hurt us and, if you succeed in life and are happy in the meanwhile, that is added benefit for us. Will you be the bridge that connects the Light to the metahuman underground? Will you let us help you? Will you let us free you from this world of hatred you are trapped in? Jinx, will you join us?"

 **Author's Note: Bam! Cliffhanger! Have fun with that! Thanks for reading, guys!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note: Alrighty guys, here's another chapter! This one is dedicated to UnleashYourInner*ssButt for suggesting the name Pipeline (they originally suggested it for either the city or Barry's team, but I felt like it was better used here)! Read, review, and enjoy!**

WWWWWW

As predicted, recovery from the spell that split the world into two was a complicated and painful process. There was a truly devastating number of deaths to be reported. Car crashes where kids found themselves in suddenly driverless cars and crashes where adults were scared by the sight of their children disappearing were the number one cause of death. There were those who had been supported by others, those who were in airplanes or boats when the adult operators disappeared. Children in hospitals died without the surgeons keeping them alive. Hospitals were also the place where people were spliced back together most often. Both adult and child world did their absolute best to make sure that people wouldn't be in the same place at the same time, but a lot of the people in hospitals couldn't be moved to a safe location and were left there. Adults and children alike wandered the halls in confusion, only to be merged into each other when the worlds reunited. It was an awful way to die.

Property damage was a problem world-wide, as well. Mainly, this was due to the various car crashes, but Wally heard that somewhere in China they had been building a sky scraper and, when the adults disappeared, a beam fell, knocking the entire structure to pieces. It collapsed three other buildings, including one that held a mostly contained kitchen fire. That fire spread and took out a large portion of a city block. Damages like that happened globally.

Theft and vandalism were reported to be at an all-time high. The children of the world went crazy without adults. Those who were already inclined to steal and break and spray-paint gleefully partook in their fill of each activity, terrorizing cities and towns alike. Children who had never considered doing something like that found themselves swept up in the excitement of the moment, committing crimes they would have never considered otherwise. That went for adults, too. The adults prone to stealing and vandalizing took advantage of the general panic and confusion.

Then there were the hurt children of the world, the ones who were missing now. It wasn't just the kids that Wally had rescued from the camps. Children who were victim to human trafficking or underaged prostitution, abusive parents or a bad system, all ran that day. Wally knew that some of them went back to the situation, too scared to truly run. Some of them were caught and returned by police or well-meaning citizens. Some of the lucky ones were able to get somewhere safe and bring down the people or organizations that took them (this would remain to be one of the few good things that came from the day the world split in two). Some of them would never be seen again.

And _then_ there were the kids who made it out of the camps or whatever equivalent things other countries had. The world was in an uproar, demanding to know where the children went. It was the most public the camps had ever been, and Wally couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, it incited a lot of people who had either always been quietly against meta-hate, or it inspired people to be against meta-hate. On the other hand, it made the haters even louder. As far as Wally could tell, the only change that occurred was that tensions rose, and violence became even more imminent. He couldn't exactly call that a good outcome.

The kids seemed better, though. There was a lot of work to be done with them beyond the one night that Cameron spent there, but Wally and the rest of the Circus were more than willing to do that work. Not all of the kids wanted to stay in Holo City. They wanted to go back to their family and try to figure something out there. Wally always let them go, but not without putting them into the hands of the Alliance. Wally would never make a camp escapee stay somewhere they didn't want to stay, but he knew that the kids were metahumans and it would be hard for them to live a normal life. So, he contacted the Alliance. The Alliance would take the kids, find their families, and then sit them all down and discuss the situation. They would devise a plan to get them all somewhere safe where they can live out their life in peace no matter what they were. It was the best Wally could do for them, especially since he would not bring humans to Holo City.

Thankfully, there were no breakouts from the rehabilitation centre of his city. That would have been ironic and truly unfortunate. There weren't a _ton_ of child metas in the rehabilitation centre (which Wally was being told was called 'the Pipeline.' He wasn't sure why, but the guards there seemed rather satisfied with themselves, so he wasn't going to bother to change it), but there were enough that there could have been a problem.

And, of course, what Wally considered to be the greatest tragedy of the world splitting was scowling at a laptop in front of him. Lorraine currently had her powers activated, helping Wally and the others sort through the research they had from the Alliance. There was a lot of information to go through, but Wally was hopeful that with all of the Circus members working together, they'd manage it. Of course, Hal was there helping them too, but he'd somehow become an honorary Circus member, so that was alright.

Wally was glad that the group had accepted Hal so readily. Harold and Hal had come to the decision to tell the rest of the group how they were related, and Wally had supported them while they'd had the discussion. Garfield had apparently decided that Hal being Harold's cousin made him family to everyone and if he was family to all the Circus members, then he must be a Circus member. Hal had looked bemused, but still happy at the prospect and Harold had sent the whole group a blinding grin, so it worked out a whole lot better than Wally had been expecting. The only one that seemed to have shared his worry was Cameron, who still watched Hal with a cautious sort of suspicion that Wally knew was mirrored on his own face. He would accept Hal into their little family, but he would also _take Hal down_ if it meant saving the members of his family that he escaped with.

Lorraine shifted a little bit in answer to one of the doctor's pokes. The doctor (whose name, once Wally got around to asking, was Leslie Thompkins) had been determined to show that she would treat Lorraine the same as she did with every other patient and so far she'd been doing an amazing job. Leslie and Lorraine had seemed to form a relatively strong connection, the two of them bonding over their love of classical music and their fondness for the colour pink.

Wally paused for a moment, taking a break from his research to just look at the group. Sure, it wasn't the one metahuman to every three humans ratio or whatever that the Alliance had, but there were two humans that were close enough to the group that they actually knew some of the members' names. It was more than Wally could have ever hoped for. It didn't mean that Wally and Cameron weren't almost constantly on their guard and it didn't mean that Wally and Garfield didn't flinch whenever Leslie got a little too close to a particularly sharp looking medical instrument, but it was something. And that was all Wally could ask for.

Dinah made an interested noise in the back of her throat, catching Wally's attention, "One of our financial backers wants to meet face-to-face."

Cameron blinked, "Seriously?" Dinah nodded.

Wally groaned, "Great. Just what I needed. This is probably a trap."

"You're too suspicious," Leslie muttered as she checked Lorraine's temperature, Lorraine grumbling beneath her ministrations.

"You're too trusting," Harold shot back. Hal knocked his elbow into Harold's shoulder, playfully bringing Harold's focus back to the laptop the two of them were sharing.

Leslie rolled her eyes, drawing the thermometer back and eyeing it, "No, really. You're too suspicious. I think there are two possible reasons for this meet-up. Either the investor saw the camp breakouts and wants to back out of whatever deal you've struck, or the investor saw the camp breakouts and wants to do more for the program. It's not a trap."

"You have no proof of that," Dinah pointed out, but her voice was warm and more curious than anything. Dinah and Leslie had also formed a relatively strong friendship. Wally was pretty sure that was just because Leslie was the first female adult that Dinah had regular contact with for a long time.

"Well, this person's never contacted you before, right? And what's changed between then and now? The breakouts. Knowledge of the camps is becoming more widespread. There's a lot more discussion and interaction and investigation aimed towards the camps," Leslie pointed out, moving over to one of the few empty spaces in the crowded hospital room, finishing with, "Obviously that's made them rethink what they're doing, for better or for worse."

"And with that rethinking they did, there's a chance that they realized they were funding a terrorist organization and are now working with the police to take us down," Cameron added, eyebrows raised. As much as he was distrustful of the two humans, he'd let his powers go for the moment, a mask over his pale skin, ice melted back into himself. He'd always told Wally that he felt equally comfortable in his human and ice forms, but he knew that people preferred his human form, so he tried to keep it more often. It always made Wally a little sad.

Scoffing good-naturedly, Leslie teased, "You need to have more faith in humanity! We're not all that bad! This person _was_ willing to fund a terrorist organization and they _have_ to have seen reports of you on the news and those were _never_ favourable. The theory that you helped with the camp escapes would hardly be enough to change their mind on you guys. We're not that bad."

A crash stopped Leslie from continuing. Jinx had slammed her laptop closed, a curious pinkish-greyish-brown colour spreading over her cheeks, eyes snapping, "I'm done with this." She stormed out of the room, tall shoes clomping on the ground as she left.

The group exchanged wide-eyed glances, Dinah extracting herself from the charger and laptop she was trapped under. Dinah nodded to Wally before rushing off after Jinx.

Ever since the girl was taken by Klarion, she had been acting strange. There had been a whole lot of understandable panic when Jinx had disappeared in Klarion's hold, but they hadn't even gotten around to tracking Klarion when he appeared again, depositing an unharmed Jinx on the floor before disappearing back into his portal. It had been curious, but Jinx's behaviour after the incident was worse. She'd been cold, almost hostile towards Wally, a strange expression flitting over her face before she found any excuse she could to get away from him. She'd acted the same around Cameron. It had been worse around the Team and Dr. Thompkins. Any sort of rapport they'd build in the week or so they'd been in the headquarters together they'd lost when Jinx disappeared. Zatanna had even admitted quietly to Wally that Jinx was no longer working on magic lessons with Zatanna.

It was worrying.

Jinx wouldn't tell anyone what was going on, though. She refused to speak about what happened when she'd been taken. Wally had brought her to Holo City and (guiltily, because he didn't want to take up their time when they should be helping the children, but the doctors had all assured him that the Circus members who protected them took first priority) asked the doctors to check her out. No damage. Not a hair on her head had been damaged. Wally couldn't figure it out.

And neither could Kaldur. Wally had privately shared this information with the co-leader, determined to keep up the camaraderie and cooperation that they'd managed in the time they'd been working together. Kaldur needed to know if there was something wrong with one of the members of the group and, as far as Wally was concerned, there was something wrong with Jinx. Wally had even wrestled with the idea of benching her, but he hadn't made a final decision on that yet.

Kelvin made a grunting sound, prompting Wally to glance up towards him. He jerked his massive red chin over towards the door where… Batman stood. Because Wally's life couldn't get any worse. Wally stood up and faced the hero, "Batman."

"I need to speak to you," Batman growled (did he know how to anything but?) before sweeping out of the room before Wally could even attempt to formulate a response.

"Unbelievable," Wally growled, before he turned around, facing his team again, "Icicle, grab BC's laptop real quick and set up a meeting with the investor. Someone hand Firehawk my laptop. I need you to finish what I was doing. Dig through the Alliance's research for mention of either Tommy or Tuppence Terrible, got it? It's boring, but it's important. The rest of you, keep with what you're doing." And with that, he sped out of the room, trying to keep up with wherever Batman went off to.

Apparently, he went off to an empty conference room. He was seated at a chair and already had another one pulled out in front of him. There was a little recording set-up on the table next to him. Wally narrowed his eyes at the whole picture and considered choosing another chair just to mess with Batman. He decided it wasn't worth it and sat across from Batman, mouth twisted into a frown.

Batman spoke as soon as Wally was seated, "I am researching in depth into the camps and the Collection Agency."

Wally almost choked on his breath, "I'm sorry, what?"

Batman repeated himself, his growl surprisingly gentle, "I am trying to research the camps and the Collection Agency. After the time you have spent with the Team, I've decided that the matter needs further understanding."

"And what do you need me for?" Wally asked, heart pounding in his chest.

"You know more about the camps than I ever could at this stage. Insider knowledge would help to pinpoint my research and investigation," Batman responded easily.

"You want to know about the time I spent in the camps," Wally stated flatly, memories pushing at him, flashes of scalpels in the corner of his eye, murmuring voices over his head, the icy fear of being pulled away from Cameron for an experiment, the hard slab that passed as a bed in the barracks under his fingers. Wally shoved the thoughts away viciously. In a discussion with the world's greatest detective, he couldn't afford to be distracted.

Batman nodded, shortly, "I'm going to find out everything at some point or another. I don't need the gritty details. I need overviews and I need specific information about the location, the set-up, the process." Memories of that dark, windowless van swam into Wally's vision and he tried to breathe through the nausea.

He took a moment to collect himself. This was a good thing. The heroes were investigating. That meant that the Circus was getting to them, was showing them that they were wrong, that the camps were wrong. This meant that everything was starting to look up, that Wally's plans were working. Those thoughts battled with his memories and Wally resisted the urge to put his head between his knees and just _breathe_.

Because, the thing was, Wally had never actually seen a therapist. None of the Circus members were. At first, they were busy trying to get the whole organization up and running. Then they were trying to deal with Holo City. Then there weren't really any therapists to talk to. Once Holo City finally got therapists, the Circus members prioritized the citizens of Holo City. In the end, though, no one from the camps, even the ones who weren't on the main Circus attack team, went to therapy. They should, but they were scared. They were too proud. There were any number of reasons and none of them were quite right, but as it stood, none of them had gone to any sort of therapy for the horrors they had faced. And that became immediately obvious when faced with questions about their past.

Wally took a deep breath, finally settling himself, "Ask me specific questions and I'll do my best to answer."

"Which camp were you taken to?" Batman started.

"The very first one," Wally answered. It was the first and the largest camp, but it had filled up fast. There were rumours that it was the worst camp, but Wally never compared trauma and he would never compare on camp experience to another.

He saw Batman's head flick up towards him, the whites of his cowl widening marginally. Looks like he'd finally managed to startle the Bat. Then again, not many people expected Wally to have been one of the first put away. The first wave of people tossed into the camps was made almost entirely of criminals or the children of criminals like Cameron. They were the easiest to catch and the most immediate concern. They were the ones who were actively using their powers to do evil. It took almost a year to gather all the criminals and, by then, the first camp was almost full. Obviously, spots would open as time went on and people died off or were transferred to other camps for various reasons. That was how the other members of the Circus made it to the camp. They were people sent to fill in the gaps of the first camp.

Batman didn't comment though, instead continuing with his questioning, "How did they find you?" Maybe that was Batman's method of commenting on the subject, testing the waters to see if Wally would admit to being a criminal.

Wally wrestled with the idea of answering, lips twitching. Batman had sprung this on him, not given him a chance to prepare for the line of questioning. He was wrong-footed and confused and liable to give away more than he wanted to. He _knew_ that this was a good thing, but his natural suspicion was rearing its ugly head. In his mind, though, he heard Leslie's calming voice telling him that he was too suspicious and that most humans actually were nice. He thought back to every news report telling of some heroic deed Batman had committed. Batman was a hero. Even if Wally wasn't entirely sold on the whole 'most humans are nice' concept, he could try to believe that _heroes_ were nice at least. He could try trusting his once.

Carefully, Wally answered, "I was hospitalized following a freak accident. At the hospital, the doctors noticed that I was healing much too fast. They came to the conclusion that I was a metahuman. The doctors and my parents… decided to call the Collection Agency. The agents dragged me out of the hospital and no one stopped them."

There was a pause where Batman stared at him. Wally couldn't read anything from the miniscule shift in the scowl or the slight narrowing of the eyes, but Batman moved on before Wally could really wonder, "How were you transported to the camp?"

"There was a white bus. It was smaller than a normal bus and didn't have any windows. The inside just had a couple of rows of benches. I was the last one in there. They cuffed my hands behind my back and then zip-tied them together before chaining that into the ground and doing the same with my feet. The agents were all armed. We were not allowed to use our powers and we were not allowed to speak." He didn't talk about how the bus was stifling warm, like a blast of furnace air hitting his face before he was settled next to the perpetually cool Cameron. He didn't talk about how the bus stank like vomit, sweat, and rancid fear. He didn't talk about the way every person in there was a hardened criminal or had grown up around them, eyes shifting and dark and terribly unwelcoming to a little kid who just woke up from a coma and was still wearing a hospital gown. He didn't talk about the cruelty of the men as they beat on him and Cameron, shooting Wally in the shoulder and digging out the bullet. He didn't talk about the fact that the only moment he felt even somewhat safe was when the big man in the back (Wally had never gotten his name; the man had been shot when he tried to make a break for it the second they got to the camps) yelled for the guards to not hurt him because he was just a kid.

Batman would figure it out himself. He didn't need Wally dredging all of that back up again.

Voice carefully controlled, Batman asked another question, "What did they do the moment you got to the camps?"

"They sorted us. They'd walk you into this building and send each of us into rooms with a scientist and a guard. The scientist would ask us what our powers were. I just went ahead and told the scientist and Icicle said that he just told the scientist right away too. I'm not sure what the others did when they got to the camp, so I don't know what happened if you fought back. Maybe there was a better system in place by the time the others got to the camp. I don't know. But I told the scientist and he programmed something into the inhibitor collar. The guard put it on me and then the scientist assigned me to a group. There were two groups: the experiments and the workers. I was assigned to the experiments section. They brought us to a room where there were clothes that were different colours for whichever group you were in. You had just a couple minutes to try to find some clothes in your size and get them on. The guards didn't leave the room when you changed. Then, they moved us into the barracks. I was in the third barrack because they had already filled up one men and one women's barrack by the time I got there. There were maybe fifteen, twenty of us to a barrack. The barrack was mixed experiments and workers." Wally answered, anticipating that Batman was probably going to ask about what happened after they were sorted.

Batman continued, "Were there guards in the barracks?"

"No, but there were cameras and microphones. I know those were monitored pretty religiously. There were some guys already trying to make an escape plan that first night and the guards shocked them even though they were being really quiet about it," Wally answered, remembering his first night there. It had been cold, and the beds were terribly uncomfortable. Wally had been tired from the stress and the injury that had already healed, but the whispers and Cameron's pale, fear-lined face peering at him had kept him up. Wally and Cameron had decided to stick together and had managed to get two beds close to each other, the two of them claiming the top bunks. Maybe it was some sort of ingrained need to go to higher ground for protection. But the two in the beds beneath Wally and Cameron were whispering about an escape plan and Wally and Cameron just watched each other, mouths glued shut after the episode on the bus, blood still matted in their hair and caked over their wrists and Wally's chest. They hadn't been offered a shower before they were told to get into the barracks and get to sleep. The next thing they knew, the two on the beds beneath them were howling and writhing in their bed, horrible crackling noises and a singed smell causing both boys to curl impossibly tighter into themselves, shaking in fear, eyes locked over the small distance between their beds.

Wally took a shaky breath, giving into the urge to run a tired hand over his face. Batman watched him carefully, "This isn't quite the story that the Collection Agency tells."

"The Collection Agency doesn't have to tell _any_ story because no one cares enough to ask," Wally snapped. He flexed his jaw, immediately regretting his words.

Batman didn't seem offended by them, instead just replying mildly, "I'm trying to change that."

"Yes," Wally sighed, "I know. I'm sorry."

Batman stared at him inscrutably for a moment longer, before moving on to the next question.

By the time Wally managed to get out of there, he felt like something had run him over. He was far more emotional than he'd been in a long, _long_ time (not since he'd gotten all of them out of the camp alive and they'd set up the Circus and he felt like he could finally breathe and then he'd just kind of sat down and sobbed) and he didn't like it.

Somehow, without asking for any of the gory details, Batman had managed to dredge up every awful memory of the place that Wally had. It wasn't quite how Wally had been wanting to spend his day, but Batman had looked almost… pleased by the end of it, so Wally considered it worth it. Batman asked important questions, ones that really would help him with research or retcon. It made Wally feel like he'd been right to trust the hero, like he actually had a reason to hope for a better future now.

Wally was so lost in his thoughts that he almost smashed into Jinx. Luckily, he was a speedster and he was able to catch himself in time to avoid making a mess out of the both of them. The angry blush was gone, and Jinx just looked tired, "What were you doing?"

"Batman was asking some questions about the camps and wanted someone who'd actually lived in them to answer," Wally answered easily, awkwardly stopped in the middle of the hallway to talk to Jinx.

Jinx scowled, "Why was he asking questions? So he can turn this into his own version of the camps?"

Wally barely resisted an incredulous laugh, "So he can… what? Jinx, you're not making any sense."

"Of course I'm not," Jinx muttered before speaking louder, "What are we doing here, Supersonic?"

"I don't understand the question," Wally admitted, confused and a little scared about where this conversation was going. Jinx didn't say anything, so Wally did his best to answer the question regardless, "We're here to take down the Light since we couldn't take them down by ourselves. We're also here to hopefully show the heroes that metahumans aren't any different from humans and that we don't deserve the treatment we get. Why are you asking this, Jinx? You know this."

"Have we achieved either of these goals?" Jinx demanded.

Wally frowned, "You _know_ we haven't. Jinx. _What_ is going on?"

She didn't answer, "Right, we haven't achieved either goal. And we're not going to. This is a waste of time. The _heroes_ are never going to listen to us, never going to trust us, and never going to think we're anything less than scum. You can't change people like them. And what about the Light? The heroes think _we're_ evil, so who's to say that they're not wrong about the Light, too?"

Something cold and scared settled in Wally's chest, "Jinx, what did they do to you when the Light took you? You know that they're evil. Think about the death toll and property damage and financial struggles caused by their latest stunt. Think about what the Team has seen them do. Think about what our spy has said about what they've done. The Light is evil. That's not a question."

"Why not? You don't know them. You haven't met them. You don't know what their message is," Jinx threw back, expression tight and determined. Only the slightest sliver of fear showed through her mask.

Shaking his head, Wally reached a hand out to Jinx, pulling it back when she flinched out of reach, "Jinx, this isn't you. Whatever the Light did to you, we can help. I know that the doctors at Holo City couldn't help, but we can see if Leslie will take a look at you. If you don't feel comfortable with a human looking you over, we can work with the Alliance, see if they've got a metahuman doctor willing to do some tests."

"No!" Jinx cried, pulling back even further, "Don't you see what's happening? They're _changing_ you, Wally! They're corrupting you! Can't you see how much they've managed to wrestle from you in the short amount of time we've been here? They already know about the city which is more than we've told _anyone_ about because that was supposed to be the one secret we kept above all! You told them about Gorilla City and the Pipeline and Holo City and you've formed _more_ alliances! You're working with heroes and humans and you're considering walking into a trap just because an investor wants to meet! Don't you see how they're trapping us? How they're taking everything away from us?"

"Jinx-," Wally started.

Jinx interrupted him, hands glowing pink and a flush starting over her cheekbones again, "No! _No_! You're not listening to me! You can't _see it_!"

There were a couple of times at the beginning of the Circus where Wally had snapped at the group, trying to pull them into some semblance of control and trying to get everyone to work together. Cameron told him that lightning lit up Wally's eyes and crawled over his skin when he got like that. He said that Wally's voice went cold and dangerous. He dubbed it Wally's "Commander" voice. Cameron said that it reminded him of a commander who was terrified of losing all of his men, but had to lead them into battle regardless.

Wally pulled that voice out, felt the Speed Force echo in his mind and race through his veins, spilling out over his skin, " _Jinx_. You listen to me. I _am_ listening. I am listening, and I hear you and I know that this isn't you. You showed none of these concerns before the Light took you. You've been acting strange since the Light took you and you won't tell anyone what happened. Whatever they told you, it's not true. I don't know what happened, but this alliance is a good thing. We've made a lot of progress, much more than we could have otherwise." He let the voice fall away, felt the Speed Force settle back under his skin, " _Please_ Jinx. Talk to someone. Tell someone what happened. Get _help_."

Jinx shook her head, backing up further, "You don't believe me."

"That's not what's happening, Jinx," Wally tried to protest, but it fell on deaf ears.

Jinx stumbled back another few steps, "You don't believe. You've been lost to the humans! This is all a mistake! This is – it -," She turned around and ran off, leaving Wally blinking after her, too emotionally drained to even consider running after her. He'd see if he could send someone else after her. Maybe Kelvin. Dinah hadn't been able to help, apparently.

Wally shook his head and moved towards the hospital room where the rest of his team was waiting. Cameron nodded to him when he got into the room, "Hey, so good news and bad news."

Wally sighed, "Awesome. First, though, Ballistic? Can you go after Jinx please? We had a… misunderstanding? I think? In the hallway. Maybe someone else can help since I apparently can't." He waited for Kelvin to nod and start making his way out of the room before turning back to Cameron, "Alright, let's have it."

"Good news: we've got a meeting time set up with the investor. Bad news: he _refuses_ to meet with us unless Black Canary is there. I'm more than a little concerned that he's requesting a specific person," Cameron answered, frown pulling the corners of his lips down.

Wally blinked, surprised at the request. He turned to Dinah, "Any arguments about coming?"

"Nope. I'm good with going with you," Dinah answered, her own lips pulled down into a curious frown.

"When's the meet?" Wally asked.

Cameron grimaced apologetically, "That's the other bad news. It's in, like, twenty minutes."

"It's _what_?" Wally asked, sending Cameron an incredulous look. Dinah cursed and rushed off towards her room to grab her suit. Luckily, Wally was already wearing his, "When were you planning on telling me?"

"You were taking so long with Batman! I would have come and got you if you weren't out relatively soon! It's not like it takes you that long to get anywhere!" Cameron threw back, hands up.

Closing his eyes, Wally muttered, "You're lucky I like you." Cameron threw a pencil at him.

Dinah rushed back into the room, breathing hard and pulling on her glove, "Alright, I'm ready to go."

"Let's go, then," Wally sighed. He grabbed her and the two of them flew off into what could very well be a trap.

 **Author's Note: Long(ish) chapter, yay! Hope you guys like it! Thanks for reading!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note: It feels like it's been forever since I updated! Thanks for sticking around as long as you guys are! Your responses make my day every time! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Wallyfan – Aw, I'm glad you like it! Ooh, that would be a fun idea! I'm still trying to work out how the reveal of the camp is going to go, so I'll definitely think about your idea! Thanks for the review!**

 **Guest – Haha, you'll find out who the spy is eventually! Yeah, I'll definitely try to get some more bonding in there. I've got some bonding this chapter and some planned for the next chapter. We'll see what I can get in there. I do my absolute best to update every weekend, although sometimes it's a little earlier. But about once a week. Ah, I love Darkest Minds too! It's so good! Thank you for the amazing review!**

WWWWWW

"You're sure that you're alright with coming?" Wally asked, possibly for the fourth or fifth time.

Just as with all of the other times, Dinah rolled her eyes and groaned, "Yes, Supersonic, I'm alright with coming. Which is convenient because _we're already here_."

"That doesn't mean I couldn't run you back," Wally muttered before sighing, "Alright, whatever. I'll stop asking. It would be nice if the investor decided to show up, though. At some point. Preferably today. I'll take some time tonight if I really have to."

"Sorry!" A new voice called out. Wally looked across the empty expanse of rooftop where the loser investor had wanted to meet. Who even wants to meet on an abandoned roof? That's such a lame thing to do. Especially if the investor is rich since most rich people are relatively famous just by virtue of being rich. A famous person creepily climbing to the top of a random roof in the middle of the afternoon is bound to get some serious attention and that is not the kind of attention the famous person nor the Circus would want. It was stupid, and lame and Wally might just be upset because he was still stressing about the Jinx situation.

Finally, the owner of the voice came into Wally's sight and Wally's jaw about dropped off. This was a trap. This was definitely a trap.

Dinah's hand on Wally's arm was the only thing that stopped him from making off with the two of them back to headquarters. Green Arrow stepped further onto the roof, hands held above his head and away from his bow and arrow. Slowly, keeping eye contact with them, Green Arrow reached behind him and pulled off the bow and arrow, setting it on the ground and pushing it away from him before he took a few hesitant steps away from the weapon and towards Wally and Dinah.

Wally hissed to Dinah, "Why are you stopping me?"

"I think he means well," Dinah answered, easily loud enough for Green Arrow to hear.

Green Arrow nodded emphatically, "I swear this is not a trap and the investor did not lie to you."

"How do you know about the -," Wally cut himself off, eyes going wide, " _You're_ the investor?"

Green Arrow winced, "You don't have to sound so surprised, jeez. Just because I'm a hero doesn't mean I don't see the good you guys are doing. I've supported you guys from the start, but I just didn't see the need to get more involved. Obviously, that was a mistake. Seeing you guys with the Team, I can't help but think of how much good we could have done if we'd been working together from an earlier date."

Dinah's voice was sharp when she replied, "That's not why you called for this meeting. You would have brought that up when we were together earlier this week."

"When you were _what_?" Wally asked. He was kind of getting sick of feeling wrong-footed all of the time.

Dinah spared him a glance before going back to staring down Green Arrow, "When the world split, the heroes and adult Circus members had to do the same thing you and the others were doing with the children of the world. We had to make sure everyone was safe and in a good place. Green Arrow and I ended up teaming up. We spent most of the day working together, up until the worlds were merged back together again."

Wally shook his head, sighing out through his nose, "Of course. Okay, so what do you want? Why come here with your super suit on? If you wanted to discuss a renegotiation of the amount you donate or the method through which you donate, then you could have done that as a normal rich person. Why do it this way?"

"I want you guys to know who I am. I think we can help each other more this way," Green Arrow answered emphatically. He had the kind of excited voice that showed how completely earnest he was being. It was kind of disconcerting how determined he was to make this work.

"Why now?" Dinah demanded.

Green Arrow sent a small, almost shy look towards Wally before refocusing on Dinah, "Because I wanted to see you again and this was the easiest way to see you without having a lot of other people nearby." Wally almost interrupted him, hand actually held up and face twisted in confusion, but Green Arrow kept going, "I just… when I saw you the other day. You were so powerful and beautiful, and your voice is just… perfect. _You're_ perfect. I never believed in love at first sight before I met you." And then, slowly, dramatically (proving Wally right on his theory that all superheroes were basically required to be unnecessarily dramatic), Green Arrow took off his mask, revealing… Wally wasn't entirely certain who that just revealed. He wasn't as up to date on famous people as he should be, but he thought he had a pretty solid excuse.

Apparently Dinah didn't have that problem because her eyes widened and she breathed out, "Oliver Queen?" Then she shook her hand, hand briefly touching to her forehead, "Wait, I'm sorry. Did you just say you fell in love with me after one day spent together pulling people out of car crashes and watching others die?"

Green Arrow, apparently Oliver Queen, winced a little bit, "Well, when you put it like that."

"How else am I supposed to put it?" Dinah cried, voice a touch hysterical, "What are you saying to me? I don't love you if that's what you're expecting! I don't even know you! You don't know me!"

Oliver raised a hand, voice simultaneously softer and darker at the same time, "Hey, whoa. I'm not expecting anything from you. I just wanted to tell you that I think you are the most perfect woman I have ever seen. Look, I know that I'm famous for falling fast and picking girls up for a one-night swing through town before I drop them in a couple of weeks. I _know_ my reputation. But I don't feel the same way about you as I did about all those other girls. I might not know your name or your history, but I've met you and that's all that matters. You are Black Canary and you are fierce and beautiful and brave and kind and willing to do what it takes. And I'm not asking you to return any feelings or say anything about me. I'm just asking that you let me get to know you better. I'm asking that you get to know _me_ better. I'm not in love with you, but I'm smitten. I'm already donating to your cause and have been for a while, so you know that I've never had a problem with metahumans."

"This is insane," Dinah said flatly, the hard edge to her voice that only ever came out when she was scared. Wally hated that tone of voice.

He stepped forward, bringing attention back to himself, "Okay, let's all try this over again. Mr. Queen, it's a pleasure to meet someone who's been investing in our venture this past year. We are thankful for the donations you have made. If you have a formal complaint, comment, or request to make of any members of the Circus, they can be submitted through a meeting with _me_ or with your next donation. This was all in your contract. Please refrain from accosting the Circus members, if you would. Now, as it's too late to do all that now, please allow Black Canary to come to her own conclusions on this topic in another situation. She doesn't need to be fielding questions and comments from you while she's trying to figure things out. So, did you want to talk about anything else, or was that it?"

Queen blinked at him, "You're pretty good, kid."

One of Dinah's lips twitched even as she puffed herself up in preparation to berate Queen for calling her leader a kid. Wally interrupted that looming argument by responding smoothly, "Thanks. So, anything else?"

Casting one last longing glance over to Dinah, Queen answered Wally, "I want to know where my money's going."

Wally blinked, "Oh, well, it's going towards the city."

"Why isn't it going towards the Circus specifically? That's what I'm donating to," he didn't sound upset. Queen sounded more like he was testing Wally.

Lips curling down slightly, Wally tried to figure out where this conversation was going, "Holo City is a subsidiary of the Circus and therefore funds for the Circus count as funds for the City. Besides, a lot of the members of Holo City have pledged themselves as secondary members of the Circus. They're not a part of the main attack team, but they're willing to join us in a fight if we need them. So, your money is going towards the Circus specifically. Besides, you know that we weren't going to be telling our investors about the City. Not even our metahuman investors know about that, let alone the human ones."

"But what about you guys?" Queen pressed, continuing when he saw the blank expressions on their faces, "Where do you guys get the funds for yourselves? Costumes can't be easy to maintain, especially not the kind that a hero needs. And what about training and food stuffs and things to that effect? Are you using any of the funds you get from investors for yourselves? How much money do you need to keep yourselves going, to run the city, and to keep all of your safe houses?"

Wally blinked again, "Well, you know that every metahuman taken into camps gets their accounts frozen, right? Well most of the people in the City aren't from camps and don't plan on going anywhere but Holo City. So, they take the money from their accounts and slowly transition it back to themselves and then they pool it together with our funds. That's where a lot of the houses come from too. The people who live in the city had properties or houses and they give them to us to use. We took a lot of the furniture and food and stuff back to the city to get the houses there furnished. We sell some stuff too, to get more money. Stuff like that. Most of the stuff in the city is made by the people who live there. They figured out how to use their powers to farm or hunt or whatever and that's how that works. I get reports from them, but I don't get all the details. They have their own governmental set-up and I'm just the last resort leader. As for the Circus's personal needs… I guess we make do with what's left over? We still have some pretty good stuff. It's not like we're horribly lacking. Oh, and Gorilla city gave us a lot of knowledge and information on how to make technology and advanced weaponry and suits without needing interaction with other places. Plus, we take some stuff from the groups we bust, too. Why ask about this now?"

"I… the understudy, teenaged version of the Justice League gets more funding and care than your 'main attack team,'" Queen answered.

Dinah smiled a little bit, "I'm sure the Team will be glad to know that you called them that."

The teasing doesn't have the desired effect, though, because Queen's expression drops, "You can't tell them."

"That you called them an 'understudy, teenaged version?'" Wally asked, tilting his head to the side.

"No," Queen shakes his head, "You can't tell them that you met with me here today. The Justice League doesn't know that I'm an investor for your team. They don't know what I've been doing. Not even Red Arrow knows, and he was still my sidekick when I started donating. I don't think they'd take the news so well if they did know."

Wally's eyes narrowed, "Are you saying that there are still prejudices against the Circus in the Justice League? Enough that you'd get in trouble for supporting us?"

Queen grimaced in thought, "Not exactly. It's just that the Justice League is pretty split on opinions which means that anyone mentioning their own opinion can cause a fight. And the split in opinions is really new, too. I mean, even Batman and Superman who are, like, our leaders, are split between their opinions. But Batman _just_ started thinking that the Circus was alright. If I told them that I'd not only approved of the Circus since they started, but had been actually supporting them? People would _freak_? It would just add ammunition to the situation and no one needs that. So, I just don't want people to get all up in arms about the whole thing. I think that most people are starting to come around. Especially since Batman came around. He's pretty influential, honestly."

"Yeah," Wally said, "Okay. So, what now?"

Queen rubbed his jaw, "I want to get you better suits. Ones with added in features and safety gear. Not necessarily different, but safer. Well, it could maybe be a little different. Yours is kind of lame, Supersonic. Maybe you could have something brighter? I'm seeing reds and yellows. A lightning bolt? Because you leave lightning trails?"

"I'm alright with the first bit. I am not alright with the second bit," Wally said flatly. There was certainly nothing wrong with accepting some more charity from someone who'd been helping them the whole time. Queen was certainly rich enough that he could spare some money to get better super suits for the team. But Wally was not going to go for a "brighter" suit.

Except, Dinah was giving him the same appraising look Queen was, "You know, I think that would look nice. It would have the same general design, but different colours. A symbol in the middle because the bare chest area just looks ridiculous now that I'm around easily identifiable superheroes all the time. Besides, if anyone should have an identifiably symbol, it's our leader."

Queen nodded enthusiastically, "I like it, I like it. I'll get on that right away. Do you have measurements or anything like that?"

"I've got them on my phone," Dinah said, digging the phone out of one of her inner pockets.

Queen's lip curled up at the sight of it, "That is so old."

"We prioritize comms link over phones. We've already established that there isn't a whole lot of leeway when it comes to casual spending money," Wally sighed, resigning himself to the situation. Apparently he was going to get a brightly coloured suit.

Queen shook his head, "I'll fix that too. You can do so much better. There are so many things I want to fix."

Wally sighed, "Might as well write up a new contract and make ourselves more comfortable, then. Find somewhere maybe less conspicuous than a _random rooftop_ to be standing here with your _mask off_ in _your city_."

Queen hastily pushed his mask back over his face, colouring slightly, "Oh, yeah. We, uh, probably should. Do that." He snuck an embarrassed look at Dinah, who was laughing at him with that curious curl to her lip that Wally had learned meant fondness. He wondered if anything would come of those two. Queen had certainly pushed himself rather aggressively at Dinah and she didn't normally appreciate that kind of thing, but she was tolerating it currently, which meant a lot. If Wally had to guess, Queen was going to have to keep pushing until Dinah saw that he was genuine and _then_ something would come of this.

As Wally ran them all to somewhere safer, he wondered how his life had become so intertwined with humans, with the heroes he'd hated for six long years.

KKKKKK

Kaldur looked up as Supersonic slouched into the room, flopping onto a chair and just throwing his head back against the cushions. He couldn't help the way his lips curled up into a reflexive smile at the sight.

When they had first started this alliance, Supersonic had been almost painfully stiff, wary and shifty, doing his best to make sure that there was no way that Kaldur could get into a position to be a threat. Now? Now Supersonic could walk into a room and flop down, limbs spread akimbo and eyes drifting shut.

Kaldur asked softly, "I am presuming that the meeting with the investor was not a trap?"

"Ha," Supersonic snorted, "Yeah, not a trap. It was a… weird meeting, but a good one. We're getting some new supplies and more funding from the investor, so that's a serious plus. I think they want more regular conversation, which could be dangerous, but whatever. It's also kind of a good idea. I'm thinking about contacting all of the other investors and talking to them about what's going on. I'm not sure how some of them feel about the camp escapes and all that."

"Do you have a lot of investors?" Kaldur asked, partially curious and partially wondering how Supersonic would respond.

A single eye peaked through the red-stained glasses, narrowing slightly, "Don't think I don't see what you're doing. Only so many secrets I'm willing to give up." Supersonic melted a little further into the couch, resting a hand over his face and letting his shoulders relax.

Kaldur tilted his head to the side, finally putting the bookmark in his book and setting it on the table next to him, "Do you trust me, Supersonic?"

Any sort of relaxation that Supersonic had managed disappeared with Kaldur's words, muscles tensing and expression shuttering off. For a long moment, the two of them stared at each other. Kaldur continued as the moment stretched on, "Because, strangely enough, I feel as though I trust you. You do not have to return this trust or this action, but I wished to tell you something. My name is Kaldur'ahm and I am from Atlantis. I know not my birth father and I have served my King first through the military and then as his sidekick. It is a pleasure to formally meet you." He resisted the urge to hold his hand out for a handshake. From what he had witnessed, he had a feeling it would not be appreciated.

Supersonic continued to stare at him. Then, suddenly, the tension went out of him, his expression still wary and careful. Quietly, he said, "My name is Wally and I'm from Blue Valley. I don't know where my parents are now, and I was in the camps for six years before I got out and started the Circus. It's nice to meet you too."

His eyes were carefully assessing, especially when he told Kaldur that he had been in the camps for six years. Kaldur kept his expression neutral, "Thank you for trusting me." He thought of what he had heard about the camps so far. He thought of the fear people held at the thought of the camps, the desperation to escape them. He thought about being in one for six years and could barely hold back a wince.

Wally nodded back to him, "Back at you."

Kaldur smiled again, "Do you like to read, Wally?"

Brow furrowing slightly, Wally tilted his head, "Yeah… why do you ask?"

"Have you ever read this book?" Kaldur asked, holding up the book he was over halfway through. It was one of his favourites, a human classic called _Treasure Island_. He knew that it was cliché that he enjoyed a book that took place partially over the water, but that was alright.

Wally gave him a wry half-smile, "I was more into sci-fi stuff when I was a kid and there weren't a lot of books at the camps."

It was another test, Kaldur could tell. He tried to answer as easily as he would with someone he knew well. He tried to answer as he would with Tula or Garth, voice equally wry, "That's a shame. They should expand their libraries to include the truly good books."

It startled a laugh out of Wally and Kaldur felt his lips pull up in a full grin. He moved over until he was settled on the same couch as Wally and the ginger teen pushed himself into a more comfortable position, "Alright, I'll bite. What's the book about?"

As the two settled into a conversation about Kaldur's book, Kaldur thought to himself that as despicable as the Light was, he was at least glad that it gave him the opportunity to meet this incredible teenager.

 **Author's Note: Haha, this came out a lot later this night than I was intending. I watched Fantastic Beasts Crimes of Grindelwald twice this weekend, so… Anyways, thanks for reading guys!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's Note: I'm back! Survived finals! Well, mostly. I've never been so exhausted in my life, but it's over and I didn't do half bad, so we're good. Hopefully there are still some people holding interest in this story! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Wallyfan – Haha, I've been trying to get the Black Canary/Green Arrow romance into the story for a while now, but I could never really find a good place to put it in. I loved Crimes of Grindelwald so, so much! Anyways, thanks for the review!**

 **HI – It's no big deal! The fact that you're reading it is enough for me :) Thanks for the review!**

 **Guest – Kaldur with literally any other person just already makes for a beautiful friendship because Kaldur is magic, so I figured I'd get some Kaldur and Wally bromance in there. Thank you so much for the really sweet review!**

 **Guest – Will do! Thanks for the review and the well-wishes!**

 **Guest – Ooh, I'll definitely think about it! You'll find out who the spy is eventually :P Thanks for the review and the well-wishes!**

 **Repetitive Redundancy – I feel the same way! Wally is, obviously, my favourite character and I would die for more fics to be centred around him because he's beautiful and deserves all the love. Haha, I'm going to be really honest and say that I have zero clue how I'm going to end this story. We'll see if he ends up in the speed force or not. I will say, though, that I do end most of my stories with Wally disappearing as he did at the end of S2. Ooh, that's a good idea with Jinx. She's got… a complicated role in this whole thing. Thank you so much for the wonderful review!**

BBBBBB

Barry groaned and rubbed at his forehead, "I don't even know why I'm so exhausted. Iris and Julian have been doing all the work with all those new meta kids, but I'm still tired. I felt like it was never going to end."

Cisco snorted, "That's because they were kids. Kids are terrifying."

"I always pictured you as one of those people who think children are adorable. Never thought you'd be in the 'kids are evil' group," Ronnie mused, head leaned back against the wall, beer dangled lightly between his fingers.

Shaking his head, Cisco responded, "I think I was like that at first, but then I actually interacted with them and that's when I realized that kids really _are_ evil." Ronnie snorted.

Barry was still lost in his thoughts. He mused quietly, "They were all so _scared_."

Ronnie frowned, bringing his beer to his lips for a moment before setting it down next to him, "I mean… we have a little bit of knowledge of what goes on in the camps. And if that knowledge is worth anything, then it's pretty understandable that they'd be so scared. Add what we know of the camps to the scars on some of those kids, to the way even Wally was so defensive about humans, and…" He trailed off, expression fading into something unreadable.

Leaning back in his chair and wishing desperately that he could get drunk, Barry muttered back, "I just can't imagine what Wally went through. He was… he was in those camps for a long time, longer than anyone else I've ever heard of. I can't imagine what that would do to a person, let alone an _adult_. I don't know. I guess… I don't know. It makes the fact that he was able to escape even more impressive, though."

"Not to mention this escape thing he just did," Cisco reminded them, "I mean, before this, the largest escape from the camps was led by him. And now he's led what will probably be the single largest escape from the camps _ever_? _That's_ impressive. I can't imagine what kind of strength it would take to go back to those places and get those kids out." He took a deep swig of his beer.

Ronnie shook his head, "A good thing happened. I know that the world splitting was pretty bad overall, but there are a lot of kids that are free now. Let's focus on the positive. Like, Barry, what was Wally like before the camps? Before this whole metahuman mess?"

Barry's lips curled up at the question, "He was pretty cute. Kinda quiet, but not too bad. I think his parents were a little strict with him and that made him a little over cautious, but nothing awful or anything like that. He obviously adored his parents and I think they loved him too even if they don't show it all that well. Jeez, we've got to make contact with them at some point. They probably have no clue that their kid is free from the camps. I wonder if they even know that he was put in the camps in the first place?"

The three of them fell silent for a moment, Barry lost in his thoughts and the other two trying to find a way to bring the conversation back on track. Eventually, Cisco asked, "You said he was – is – interested in science. How'd that come to be?"

"I don't even know, honestly. He'd been interested in science for as long as I knew him. And he's _so smart_ , too. I mean, full-on genius level. I think, for a while, he was interested in maybe becoming a forensic scientist like I was. Obviously, it was too early to really know for sure what a kid wants, but you know. He seemed to think the stuff I did was awesome. We'd talk about it all the time and we'd do experiments out in the backyard. He was a cool kid," Barry answered, small smile growing as he remembered the little red head that had enthusiastically followed him around and played with chemicals with him. He remembered how _shy_ Wally had been when he'd first admitted how fascinating he found his science class, how nervous.

"We're going to help him, help all of them. We might not know the rest of the Circus members and we might not know Wally all that well, but we'll help them. You know that," Cisco said softly, resting a hand on Barry's back cautiously.

Sighing, Barry nodded, "I know. It's just… I know that I didn't do anything wrong, that I did the best I could do, but I feel like I failed him, like I let him be taken. I could have taken him away with us. I mean, he was intelligent enough, he could have made it. And we knew that _anyone_ could become a metahuman, _anyone_. Even if he didn't, he didn't need to be brought up in a world that hated metahumans. But I didn't want to pull him from his life like that. I didn't want to take him away from his family, from everything he's even known. No one wants to put a kid on the run. But I should have. He would have been better off."

"How many people wouldn't be, though?" Ronnie asked, "How many people would still be suffering because Wally hadn't gone to the camps and broken out and created the Circus. The Circus is an incredible group and it's done a lot of good work. The people who he rescued, the ones who he said were auxiliary members of the Circus? They would still be in bad situations. The rest of the Circus members would still be in the camps. I know that he went through a bad thing, something you wish you could have prevented, but the truth is that you couldn't have. He was going to end up in that camp. You did what you had to do, and you did nothing wrong. You can't change what happened and, in the end, it all worked out. You know where he is, now. He's out. The others are out. Good things have come from it."

"You should have been a therapist, not an engineer," Cisco teased. Ronnie rolled his eyes and pushed at Cisco's shoulder.

Barry laughed softly, "Thank guys, I needed this."

Cisco grinned, "We all need some beer." His expression turned sly, "Well, we need some beer. You probably do too, but you can't have it."

"Thanks, Cisco," Barry drawled, "You're so kind." Ronnie laughed.

A new voice interrupted them, "I see. You're all having fun without me." Patrick leaned against the door frame, rolling his eyes.

Cisco grinned, "Well, it's not like we can have fun _with_ you."

"Hey!" Patrick exclaimed, shaking his fist threateningly at Cisco while Cisco rolled his eyes and allowed a bit of his Vibe powers shimmer to life. Patrick snorted, but put down his fist, "I actually did come here for a reason. Some of us are still working and we've got information for you."

Barry stood up, "What've you got?"

"Really weird activity in Bialya," Patrick frowned, leading the way out of the room and towards the main control room. The rest of them followed him as he kept talking, "Queen Bee's always had some sort of activity in Qurac since they're neighbours and all that, but it's gotten insane. President Rumaan Harjavti has made an unofficial statement to his exec board saying that he's going to cede control of Qurac to Queen Bee. She's started moving forces into Qurac, all going towards the capital. She has already taken control of all of the metahuman centres in Qurac and has started moving the metas into her own meta army training programme. As far as I can tell, she's completely taken over the country. President Harjavti just hasn't made the official announcement yet."

"Why didn't we notice this before now?" Barry asked, hurrying towards the command centre.

Patrick shrugged, "My men can only move so high in government organizations. President Harjavti has been keeping everything really close to the chest on this whole thing. The only reason we know now is because he made the announcement to the exec board. Otherwise, we'd still have no clue."

"What's the point of taking Qurac? What does it have that Queen Bee wants?" Ronnie asked, moving over to his station as soon as they entered the room.

Cisco frowned, "Better question: what does it have that the Light wants? We know Queen Bee is a top member of the Light. We have to assume that her movements are according to the Light's wishes and not just her own."

"This can't have been a last minute plan. Queen Bee started moving her troops into Qurac _instantly_. This has been in the works for a while. This might have just coincidentally come to a head at the same time that the Light started making waves. It might nothing to actually do with the Light," Patrick suggested. Caitlyn and Iris rushed into the room as he spoke, each moving to their respective centres of command.

Barry shook his head, "See, the problem there is that we don't know how long the Light has actually been active. We don't even know what all they've done since their organization is so big and the people we've got undercover are so new. With the number of heavy hitters at the top of the organization, this thing could have been going on for years and we would have never known. We know too little about the Light to know whether this is Queen Bee's plan or theirs."

"What are we going to do about it?" Iris asked, eyes sharp and determined. It was one of Barry's favourite looks on her.

Patrick shrugged helplessly, "I mean, what _can_ we do? The things we're able to dismantle and take down are long-lasting organizations. Or, at least, ones that develop more slowly. Normally, we have time to get people in or get real information or plant doubt before it really forms. Queen Bee is moving way too fast for what we can do. We've never seen a government takeover happen this quickly and this smoothly. It's insane."

"You're kidding," Iris said, voice flat and a touch desperate, "There's nothing we can do?"

"Well," Barry said.

Julian interrupted him as he stalked into the room, scowl firmly in place, "No, no way. We are _not_ doing that."

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" Barry protested.

Julian rolled his eyes, "Yes, I do. You were going to suggest that we get the Circus to do something about it. There are multiple reasons why that's a stupid idea."

Patrick and Cisco snorted, but Barry just leaned back against the console, arms crossed over his chest, "Yeah? And why's that?"

Lips pulling down into an even deeper frown, Julian answered, "The _only_ reason we've been able to remain so completely anonymous despite the massive size of the Alliance is that we _only_ work with ourselves. We do not include other groups. It's dangerous to ourselves, to our operatives, to the people we are trying to save. Introducing the Circus as a more permanent group is counter-productive. Additionally, the Circus is an _attack team_. We are a non-violent group. We bring organizations down through words and ideas, not violence. The Circus _kills_ people, Barry. I know you don't want to think about that because your nephew is the leader, but the Circus is not like our group. It is significantly more violent and bloody and dangerous. That is _not_ the message we want to show to our followers. We have preached the idea that all things can be solved through non-violent means and here you are, about to set a group of feral teenagers on Qurac because you cannot find an easy solution to the problem. Finally, if you wish to consider the feelings of the Circus, they are incredibly private. Despite that, they are now working with a new group. They have refused to give us more information on this new group they are working with. They won't tell us who the group is, how many there are, what they're like. Do you really think you're going to give them this problem in Qurac and they're going to deal with it on their own? No, they are going to work with the team they have allied themselves to. Since we have so many high-ranking spies in the Qurac government, there is a very good chance that we will find out who the Circus has teamed up with. I cannot imagine they would take to that idea very well."

Barry frowned, muscle in his jaw cracking, "I can't see them saying no to saving people just because it could let us see something they don't want us to see. There are people in danger! They won't prioritize themselves over saving people!"

"With all due respect," Caitlyn began hesitantly, "You don't really know all that much about the Circus. Like Julian said, they are dangerous. I mean, they would do a lot to keep their secrets. Besides, the problem in Qurac? That doesn't have anything to do with saving metahumans. They're not really interested in anything but saving metahumans."

Iris cut in, eyes blazing, "What about the Light, then? The Circus is interested in the Light! They want to stop them! So, they'll help us in Qurac in order to make a move against the Light."

Ronnie stepped a little closer to Caitlyn, "She's not saying this to disparage the Circus. They're a good group and they've done good things. She's not saying that they won't do this for us. She's just saying that they probably won't be too pleased with it and I think it's a little too early to start burning bridges with a group that has led two of the largest camp breakouts in the history of the camps. That's all she's saying."

"So, what?" Cisco sighed, "We just let Bialya take over Qurac? When we can do something about it?"

"No," Barry decided, "We're going to tell the Circus about the problem and we're going to let them stop this. I won't sacrifice Qurac over this disagreement."

"You can _not_ be serious," Julian started, fists clenched at his sides, "This is preposterous! Nothing good can come from this! We were doing good work before the Circus came into this! Now we're running around cleaning up after the Circus's messes! I mean, do you comprehend how many resources we had to use to place all of those kids? We're going on wartime rationing for weeks and we have to pause several important projects just to keep up funding for that because we had no warning before Wally was suddenly dropping kids off at our front door and telling us to deal with that! The amount of grassroots campaigns and subtle manoeuvring we've done that is now obsolete because Wally _stole_ children is unbelievable! And, _no_ , before you say anything, I do not believe that those children should be left in the camps. I simply believe that he could have done that much better, more smoothly. As much good work as the Circus has done, it is a fledgling organization that has no real understanding of the financials and organization of a truly helpful group. It is, at the moment, violent and crude and, pardon me saying so, prejudiced."

"Prejudiced?" Ronnie asked incredulously.

Julian rolled his eyes, "Don't act so surprised. Wally all but admitted it when he first came in here. They only rescue metahumans. They only _care_ about metahumans. They are not working to integrate humans and metahumans like we are. It's a bad message to be having. They're advocating coexistence, not integration."

Barry was shaking because… because Julian wasn't wrong. As much as he wanted to defend his newly found nephew, he knew that Julian was right about a lot of what he was saying. The Circus wasn't a purely heroic group. They saved their own and left the rest to the dust. If it had been him and Iris stuck in some bad group somewhere, Wally would have theoretically left Iris behind just because she was human. The Circus had been created just over a year ago and they had been founded by a group that was mainly teenagers. Damaged, broken down, _scared_ teenagers to boot. It wasn't the recipe for the most stable, legitimate organization. And Barry knew that they were doing their best. He knew that they were trying to do the right thing and they succeeded most of the time.

Closing his eyes and shaking his head, Barry answered in a much more level and controlled voice than he'd been using for the rest of the argument, "Then isn't it our duty to show them that it doesn't have to be that way? As one of the most well-known metahuman groups out there, the Circus has the potential to change everything. You're right; we aren't a violent group. We stick to pacifist movements and words to make change. Can we not use our organization, our words to change the Circus? To show them that integration is possible? They're scared, Julian. That's the only reason they don't save humans. They're so scared. Did we not agree when we started the Alliance that we would not only show humans that they don't have to be afraid of metahumans, but also show metahumans that they don't have to be afraid of humans? The Circus is fresh out of the camps, which is something we can never really understand the scope of. We can help them. And we will. The first step is making sure that they can stop the Light, that they can work with us, that humans can be trusted. We can help them. And we can help the people of Qurac while we're at it."

Julian's shoulders pulled up and his lips pulled down, but he didn't fight it, "Alright. Okay, fine." He paused for a moment before admitting quietly, "You know that I'm just trying to help, right?"

Barry smiled softly, clapping a hand on the man's shoulder, "I know. Alright guys, let's get this information to the Circus!"

WWWWWW

They'd barely started their in-depth discussion of books when two different communicators went off. Wally huffed out a sigh, putting a finger to his ear, watching Kaldur do the same from next to him. Cameron spoke into the comms, " _Hey, the Alliance has got some information. They said that there's a problem in Qurac that we should take a look at and I agree. Queen Bee is literally taking over Qurac. The president seems completely on board._ "

"Awesome," Wally sighed, "How does that even happen?"

" _Who knows, man? Want me to gather the team? What about Lorraine and Jinx? Are they still benched or no? Oh, yeah, I can grab some of the heroes too if you think we'll need them, too,_ " Cameron threw back, an obvious smirk in his voice.

Wally wrinkled his nose, "Keep Firehawk and Jinx benched. Especially for an international trip. I haven't gotten a chance to really talk to them yet. Tell them that I want them to keep splitting the investor project and sorting through the Light's files. I don't know about gathering the heroes. It looks like Aqualad's got himself a mission too. Meet me in the main briefing room, though. We'll see what their mission is and we'll split the team however we need."

" _Got it, oh fearless leader,_ " Cameron threw back, turning off the comms before Wally could stay anything back. He knew Wally hated it when he was called that (he also knew that Wally secretly loved being called that and would be sad if his team stopped calling him that, but Wally would never admit to that).

Kaldur finished his call almost as soon as Wally did. Wally tilted his head to the side, "Trouble?"

Kaldur nodded shortly, "Batman has assigned us a mission. He wishes that the Circus aid us on this mission. Will you be able to?"

Wally shrugged lightly, "We'll see. I'm not sure of the full scope of my own mission. We'll see what yours is and we'll split up accordingly?"

"That sounds adequate to me," Kaldur said, sending Wally a tight smile.

The two walked as quickly as they could to the main control room. A few of the team members were wandering around the room. Batman was skulking near the front of the room, black suit somehow blending into the pale grey wall. Wally looked at the display pulled up on screen, "Dude, Icicle, how did you get a presentation put together already? You literally just got the information."

Cameron glanced up from where he was typing something into a laptop, his brow furrowed, "How did I… what? Since when have I made presentations? That's your job if we even do it."

Wally's own brows furrowed, "Then why is there a presentation about Qurac and Queen Bee on the projector?" Cameron whipped around, blinking up at the screen.

There seemed to be a hint of amusement in Batman's growl when he inserted himself into the conversation, "This is my presentation. I have a mission for the Team involving Queen Bee's takeover of Qurac."

One icy eyebrow raised over Cameron's blue eyes, "Well, that's the same mission that the Alliance just sent us. Convenient. Is everyone here?"

There were various noises of assent in the room. Wally nodded, "Alright, Batman. You start us off, then."

Batman paused for a moment, staring at Wally before moving into his speech, "There was a time, long ago, that Bialya and Qurac were one country. Since then, they have been engaged in bitter war. Recently, the elected President, Rumaan Harjavti, has been making a lot of effort to stop the war in the two countries. This was not particularly surprising since President Harjavti is known to be an influential figure in the humanitarian field. He has even made significant improvements to the treatment of metahumans in Qurac's metahuman camps. What is surprising is the announcement he made ten minutes ago. He announced that he has allied himself with Queen Bee from Bialya and will be reuniting the two countries into one with Queen Bee as the ruler. To ease the transition, he has given control of all of the metahuman camps to Queen Bee and has allowed Bialyan troops to enact martial law in Dhabar, the capital of Qurac. More troops are moving into other city centres as we speak."

Wally's jaw clenched at the knowledge that more metahumans are being taken into Queen Bee's meta army, but he doesn't comment on it. Instead, he asks, "I'm assuming that Harjavti is being blackmailed in some way, but still… I'm not sure blackmail would be enough for me to give up my country. Well, if I had one."

"You kind of do," Cameron reminded him with a small smirk.

Superboy cut in, "Queen Bee has mental control. She must be mentally controlling him."

Harold rolled his eyes, "You can't just assume it's a meta using their abilities right away. Yeah, Queen Bee's an evil mind controller, but the Alliance also has evidence that she's in Al-Qawiya, the capital of Bialya. As strong as Queen Bee probably is, that's significantly too far away for her to be controlling the President of Qurac. On a different note, there is a certain telepath who is definitely in range. He is not a metahuman, though. He's got a weird backstory that we won't go into. Let me give you, Psimon." He pulled up an image of Qurac's president, an ominous, pale figure in the background, staring creepily at the president. Psimon always made Wally shudder, despite never having met him. Honestly, the only reason he knew about Psimon was because Raven had told them some of the people her father, Trigon, had created when trying to stop the underground group called the Teen Titans. It was kind of a mess, honestly.

A few of the Team members paled dramatically, though. Superboy growled, "Psimon!"

"Have you had an interaction with him before?" Dinah asked, eyebrows raised.

Robin sighed, "Yeah, we have. Didn't end well. He's a nasty piece of work."

"Well," Wally clapped his hands together, "Let's go get him."

Kaldur sent him a sharp nod, face set in what Wally was coming to recognize as his game-face, "Everyone, get in your uniforms and go to the Bioship. Supersonic and I will devise a plan in the meantime." Everyone moved out at his words, running to their respective rooms. Hal shifted as if to go after Harold, but his ring flashed a brighter green for a moment before a bright green comms device curled around his ear.

He frowned at the air, listening to something. After a second, he sighed, "Sorry kiddos, I can't help out. I've gotta jet and go deal with something a solar system over. Zakkaria's got a problem that only a Green Lantern can deal with apparently."

"Go," Kaldur stated, nodding to the Green Lantern, "We will handle this." Hal nodded back to them and then zipped off, leaving a faint trail of green energy in his wake.

Wally sighed, squinting at the information in front of him, "So, theoretically, if we find the president, we should be able to find Psimon. He's the one we should go after. I'm guessing low-level Light member? Possibly directly under Queen Bee. Do you think that they know we're coming?"

Kaldur frowned, studying the material just as intensely as Wally, "I believe we should assume that they know we are coming. For all that I hope there is no spy, we should operate under the assumption that there is a spy and we do not know how or when or how often they are transmitting information."

"Additionally, they could know that we're coming because this might be a trap. I mean, why would Queen Bee want Qurac? She'd pretty much agreed to the temporary truce that Harjavti had suggested. The timing can't be coincidental. I say she's going after him right now to get something from us. Maybe they're trying to ferret out spies? Maybe they're testing out reaction times? Maybe it's something else completely," Wally shrugged, "I really don't think we should rule out 'trap.'"

Kaldur nodded, "That is true. Now, as for a battle plan. I know this is not an ideal situation, but I believe it would be most beneficial if we were all to go to President Harjavti and then you and the Circus members would stay with him while the rest of us faced against Psimon. Am I correct in assuming that no Circus member has previously engaged with Psimon?" Wally nodded and Kaldur continued, "Then it would be better if we were to go against him since we have already fought him."

"And you think Harjavti will be good with metas looking after him?" Wally asked incredulously.

"You do not have to say you are metahumans," Kaldur said. Wally tilted his head in confusion and Kaldur clarified, "The world does not have common knowledge of the Circus. We did not even know what powers all of you held before this alliance. There is little to no chance that President Harjavti will recognize you for Circus members. He will most likely believe that there are new members of the Team that have not made a debut before now. We will ask him to stay quiet about your presence and, hopefully, there will be no concern about prejudice during the proceedings."

Wally stared at him for a moment, silently. Was it worth the risk? Harjavti was president of Qurac. From what Wally understood of rulers of countries, there was a good chance that Harjavti could protect himself and likely had material on his person to deal with metahumans. It was practically standard practice to have some meta inhibiting devices on you if you were rich, famous, or politically important. Could he send his people into Qurac knowing that they were protecting a man who could easily harm them?

Looking at Kaldur, thinking about Batman's investigation into the camps, remembering the Alliance's easy acceptance of both metas and humans, Wally decided it was worth the risk. He nodded to Kaldur, "Alright, let's do it. Now, how stealth is the stealth mode of your bioship? I was thinking of landing here."

The two deliberated for a little bit before they received an alert from Robin, telling them that the team had assembled in the bioship and were only waiting on their leaders. In the space of a second, Wally reviewed everything that had happened since the beginning of this alliance. He thought over the rough bumps and the fights and the arguments and the secrets that had come to light. He thought about the way Kaldur had been a steady, easy presence through the whole thing, determined to make sure that this alliance worked through to the Light's defeat. He thought of the moment they had been sharing just a moment before, of the trust Kaldur had shown him.

And so Wally gave Kaldur one of his rare grins, and a clap on the shoulder, "C'mon, Kaldur, let's go get them!"

 **Author's Note: Thank you my wonderful readers for being so patient with me and sticking with this story! I actually quite like this chapter, if I'm being honest. I wanted it to be a hint longer, but I felt like this was a good place to stop, so here we are! I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Author's Note: Back with another chapter! Read, review, and enjoy!**

WWWWWW

Honestly, Wally was more impressed than upset that the plan went so wrong so fast. Well, that wasn't necessarily true, but it really was impressive how quickly everything went downhill.

For all that the team knew that the city was under martial law, Wally hadn't necessarily expected Bialyan soldiers carrying highly advanced weaponry to burst in on them with the president. The Team said that the weapons were Apokoliptan, but Wally had zero clue what that meant. He'd have to ask them more about that later. All he knew was that the soldiers were trying to assassinate the president and those weapons were very, very good. Plus, lo and behold, the office that the president was in when they found him was meta proof. An inhibitor shield covered the entire office. The metas had to rely solely on their fighting prowess or weaponry, both of which were… somewhat lacking for most of them.

Dinah and Kelvin were holding their own, but the rest of them were struggling. Wally made his way over to Kaldur, "Psimon isn't here! I'm going to go see if I can locate him, then I'll swing back for you guys! I'm not contributing anything with the inhibitor shield up!" Kaldur nodded distractedly to him, slashing a glowing blue water bearer through the barrel of a soldier's gun.

Wally nodded back and then ran from the room, ducking and weaving out of the way of soldiers in order to get to the door. He knew his team would be able to handle the soldiers, but they needed to find Psimon before it was too late.

He felt the rush of the Speed Force filtering back through his veins the moment he stepped out of the room, like a breath of fresh air, a torrent of rushing freedom. He flickered into movement, racing through the halls, checking each room as he ran. He flashed into room after room after room. Empty, all empty. Where was Psimon?

He raced further into the palace, finding no one. Was the entire building abandoned? He knew that it wasn't exactly typical government hours, but he still would have assumed that there'd be _someone_ here. It was giving him the creeps how empty this place was.

Speaking of creepy, Wally flashed into an empty auditorium. Off on one wall, there was a bank of monitors, something like ten of them stacked up on top of each other. It didn't fit with the rest of the fancy auditorium, was completely out of place.

Wally moved closer, lightning slowing around him as he allowed time to slip into a slower state. He needed to be looking for Psimon, but there was something odd about these monitors.

Wally flinched slightly when something shimmered to life in one of the monitors. It was pink and white and vaguely distorted. Wally leaned closer, trying to see what it was. He didn't realize that it was a reflection until too late. The last thing he saw before the mental attack hit him was a pale, smug face leering at him from a monitor screen.

Gasping, Wally sat up, blinking around him in shock. Wasn't he… wasn't he in an auditorium? That had been Psimon attacking him, hadn't it? Where was he? Where _was_ he?

Coughing slightly, Wally rubbed at his chest, startling when he realized that there was scratchy cloth beneath his bare hand instead of the slick slide of his glove against spandex. Shaking his head, Wally coughed again, blinking into the bright light shining directly into his eyes. He scrunched his eyes closed, moving his other hand to go rub at his temple. What was going on? What was happening? There was a lumpy, hard slab of concrete under him, a thin, threadbare blanket separating him from the chilly concrete.

A small whisper broke him from his confusion, "You okay Wally?"

That was Cameron. That was a _child-version_ of Cameron. Sitting up abruptly, Wally blinked in horror at the pale child his best friend had once been. Wally patted his hands desperately to his face, feeling over the skin, feeling for the little scar right under his ear that he'd gotten in the escape from the camps. It wasn't there. He felt over his arms, looking for scars that he'd gotten during his time with the Circus. They weren't there. They weren't there! Wally felt over his skin again, looked at his little small hands. He was a kid in the camps. That wasn't… that wasn't right. Something was wrong. This wasn't right.

Cameron sat up more fully, concern highlighting his features, "Wally? What's wrong?"

"I got out," Wally whispered, desperate and heartbroken and _confused_ , "We got out of here. We were gone. It had been over a year. I shouldn't be back here. This is _wrong_." He noticed his voice was getting louder towards the end and he tried desperately to pitch it quieter, knowing that the guards would let them talk, but if the guards could hear the talking from outside the barracks, there would be problems. And the walls were rather thin.

Cameron's face crumpled, tired blue eyes drooping, "Oh Wally, you know that never happened. We all have dreams like that and they always feel so real. You can't let it get to you."

"I… we were in the camp for five more years and then we got out, with the others. We got out and we were safe for a _whole year_. We teamed up with a hero group. It was a group of teenaged heroes associated with the Justice League. We work with them. We're taking down the Light. I found… I found my aunt and uncle and Harold found his cousin. My uncle's part of an underground metahuman group and Harold's uncle is Green Lantern," Wally said. He wasn't crazy. It wasn't some silly dream. It really happened, and he really got free. He wouldn't dream all of that up. He wouldn't. He wasn't that creative, honestly.

Giving him a sympathetic expression, Cameron settled back down slightly, "Well now we know it's a dream. Working with the heroes? Come on! We both know that the heroes would never work with a bunch of metahumans. Besides, don't you think it's a little convenient that you end up seeing your aunt and uncle again? I mean, what are the odds? That sounds a little far-fetched, don't you think?"

Wally breathed in deeply, trying to make sense of what was happening. Sure, it did all sound kind of far-fetched, but… but it wasn't. Wally wasn't _making this up_. It wasn't some sort of dream. He didn't know how he got here or why, but it _wasn't a dream_. He didn't want to push the idea, though, wanted to get more information before he tried to prove he was right. Wally shook his head again, trying to push away the pulsing headache, "Why are the lights on? And why aren't we concerned? I'm not… I don't know what's happening."

Wincing in sympathy, Cameron glanced both ways before slipping down off of his bunk and crossing over to where Wally was, deftly moving up to the top bunk. It was a move the two of them had perfected. There were no rules against sleeping more than one to a bed and no rules about changing beds after lights out, but everyone was still cautious about it all the same. Everyone was cautious about everything. Carefully, Cameron put a hand to Wally's forehead, "You don't feel like you're running a fever. I know you said that the experiment session was bad last night, but this is some serious disorientation. Do you remember what they did?"

Shaking his head, Wally whispered, "I don't know. I don't know."

Sighing, Cameron let his legs swing beneath him. The guy on Wally's bottom bunk wasn't there. Wally couldn't remember if it was because he was already dead or currently in an experiment session. Cameron started speaking suddenly, making Wally jump slightly, "No one has a clue what's going on. The lights came on about a half an hour before you woke up. Asher and Buddy are the only ones still asleep now that you're up, but I'm pretty sure Asher is unconscious, and Buddy's always been a deep sleeper. But yeah, the lights came on and the extra secure security bars came down over the doors and windows. A guard said over the intercom that no one is to attempt to go near the doors or windows, but that was it. They won't tell us what's happening, so we're just sitting here and waiting. No one wants to go back to sleep and have to be woken up again."

Now that Wally was looking, he saw that the others in the barracks were sitting up in their beds, some beds holding two to three people who were talking quietly to each other like Wally and Cameron were. Holding his head, Wally closed his eyes and tried to remember this. Nothing came back to him. This wasn't in his memories. He had zero recollection of this event happening. Wally hissed out, "This didn't happen. This… this didn't _happen_."

Rubbing his back carefully, mindful of the bruises that Wally could now feel around his ribs, Cameron sighed again, "You've got to let it go, man. Forget about it. It was just a dream. A realistic one, I'm sure, if you're this stuck on it, but still a dream. The scientists probably just gave you something weird. With the fact that you're so disoriented, you've obviously got a bad headache, and the dream? I'm almost certain the scientists must have given you a new drug. Does anything else feel weird?"

"I don't… I don't know. Give me a second. To, to think," Wally tried to collect himself, to get his head back in the game, but the headache was splitting, and the light was so bright above him. Everything felt hazy and out of focus and that dream _had_ felt so real. Shaking his head again, Wally tried to mentally feel out the rest of his body. His ribs were definitely sore, but it didn't feel like there were any breaks, so that was good. The inhibitor collar around his neck was scraping at the raw skin there, so Wally could guess that he'd been electrocuted recently. Nothing else felt off, though. He told Cameron, "Not… not really. My ribs hurt. Someone shocked me, I think. It feels like it, at least. Nothing… nothing else feels weird. I remember everything else up to now, I think. I'm just… disoriented. Trying to, to figure out what's dream and what's memory. I'm not – I'm not sure when this is. We've been here for, what? A year?" Cameron nodded, and Wally continued, "Okay, so… I don't. I don't know. I can't remember what happened yesterday, when yesterday was. This feels really strange. I'm so confused right now." He sighed and buried his face in his hands.

Cameron's lips twisted into a frustrated frown, "I _hate_ those scientists! What did they even think this was going to do to you? Did they really believe they could get rid of our powers? Is that even what they're trying to do?"

Wally let out a tired huff, starting to feel himself settling down, "Don't know, man. It's not like they're explaining it to us as they work. Well, most of the time at least. The new guy's kind of chatty."

Cameron rolled his eyes, "How you manage to get even the scientists to like you is beyond me. The whole barrack is in love with you."

"Aw, you know they love you too. We're the barrack's darlings," Wally teased.

Ben grunted from his spot under Cameron's bed, "You won't be for long if you don't keep your voices down. Some of us are trying to get some relaxation in before whatever's going on blows up in our faces."

"Always the optimist, Ben," Cameron said, leaning over to look at him. Ben just grunted back, not even opening his eyes.

Wally rubbed at his arm, starting to shiver slightly. Luckily, with his powers he generated more heat than the average person because otherwise being best friends with Cameron would have probably given him frostbite by now. Still, normally Wally was able to sit next to Cameron on the bed and be fine. He'd gotten used to the cold. Why was he shivering now?

Knowing it was useless to ask Cameron, Wally leaned over towards Ben again, "Hey Ben, does it feel like it's getting cold in here?"

It was Henry Jr. from the bed block across the aisle who answered first, "It's definitely getting colder." He was shaking, arms pressed tight against his sides and hands up under his armpits.

Cameron raised his hands in an "I'm innocent" gesture, the only other person in the room able to control temperature whispering, "It's not me!"

Asher's voice called out into the room, carefully quiet, "Try to get everyone in a bed block onto the same bed. Hopefully you'll be able to get some warmth from each other. It's getting insanely cold in here." Most everyone was shivering by that point, hands tucked under their armpits and noses turning red.

People had just started moving off their beds when a voice came over the intercom, "All metahumans will return to their beds. Each metahuman will sit one to a bed. If there is more than one metahuman on a bed, the entire barracks will be shocked. Move back to your bed."

Asher grumbled under his breath as he slid back to his own bed, shaking and shivering. Wally reluctantly let Cameron go back to his. Although the temperature actually went up a little bit when Cameron moved, it was by no means warm. Even Wally's slightly elevated temperature was starting to be useless against the cold.

The group sat there in silence for another half an hour as the temperature continued to decrease, the concrete doing nothing to retain any sort of warmth. When Wally looked out across the room, he could see clouds of breath from every bed. It looked like everyone in the room was smoking.

Without Cameron's presence by his side, though, Wally's head started to increase again. He squinted his eyes as the pulsing pain in his head ratcheted up a notch, confusion starting to spiral back in. What… what was going on?

Why had he accepted Cameron's words so easily? He _knew_ that his dream – not dream – hadn't been something normal. It hadn't even been a dream. He must have been pushed into the past somehow, that was it. Nothing more. That didn't, of course, explain what this situation was. He didn't understand why something was happening that he didn't remember, but he was sure there was a reason behind it. He wasn't still stuck in the camps. He'd gotten out of there with the others. They escaped and created the Circus and joined the Team. They got out. They _got out_.

The intercom crackling back to life made Wally a fair amount of the others jump in their beds, "The camp-wide experiment is complete. Metahumans may return to their previous activities. There is one hour and sixteen minutes left until the wakeup call."

Henry Jr. groaned, "Seriously? There's no point is even going back to sleep by now!"

Cameron's lips quirked up as some of the other men put up the same protest. He looked at Wally and moved his hand slightly, the symbol roughly asking what Wally wanted to do now. Looks like they were still in the early stages of their hand communication. Wally beckoned Cameron back over and the ice-themed metahuman slid off his bed and back into Wally's. Ben narrowed his eyes at them, "You two make sure you stay quiet. Unlike these whiners, I'm going to actually use the time we have left to sleep. Got it?"

The two smiled indulgently at Ben and nodded. He narrowed his eyes further, but ended up leaning back against the concrete, eyes slowly falling shut. It was too bad that he'd died the year before Wally had made his escape. It would have been nice if Ben could have come, too. But Ben and the man under Wally's bed had both died in the six years Wally was at the camp, Harold and Garfield replacing the two on the bottom bunks. Harold and Garfield had come in the camp at about the same time, Harold a little earlier than Garfield. They'd been shoved in Barracks 3 and told to find a bed. By that time, there were a few options for them to choose from, but they'd chosen the beds underneath the only other two teenagers in the room. t

Cameron rolled his eyes, "See? This is what I was talking about. What point did that little test even prove? They weren't monitoring our vitals or anything like that. They just had the cameras up. What information could they have possibly gotten from just watching us sit there uncomfortably while the barracks got colder and colder?"

"Who knows?" Wally threw back easily, worries about being in the wrong time and getting sent back to this place disappearing, fading the way a dream fades the longer you're awake.

The two talked for a while longer, theories and ideas and frustrations confessed to each other on Wally's bunk. Wally hadn't even realized they'd fallen asleep until the klaxon blared its wakeup call, making the two of them jump in fright. Cameron jumped almost off the bed, scrabbling for purchase on the side of the bed and Wally's leg in order to stay on. The two grinned slightly at each other, ignoring the eye roll they were getting from Ben.

Quickly and carefully, the two got down from the bed, scrambling to grab their day clothes and get in line for one of the two bathrooms. They rubbed blearily at their eyes, Wally's headache still nudging at him fiercely, shuffling forward each time a person finished going to the bathroom.

Thankfully, not all twenty of them went to the bathroom right away in the morning. If they did, there would be no way that they'd get through them all each day before they were brought to breakfast. About half of the people just changed in their bed block, quickly sliding the blanket between the concrete and the ladder for the top bunk to give themselves some semblance of privacy as they changed. People on the top bunk were typically able to wedge the blanket up under the ceiling tiles or against the ceiling light for long enough to change. The other half changed while they were using the restroom, moving quickly with the knowledge that there were a good number of people waiting and not a lot of time.

Wally got into the bathroom and changed quickly, taking a brief second to check out the bruising on his ribs, wincing when he poked the darkened skin lightly. He moved out of the bathroom, the last person in his line going in behind him. Cameron was already out of the other bathroom, waiting in the line to go out the door.

Wally joined him, making sure that he was directly behind Cameron. It hadn't taken long for the metas to realize that when the guards wanted them to be in a straight line, they really meant _be in a straight line_. People had gotten electrocuted for not following that instruction enough times that Wally was almost glad he'd been taken from elementary school where walking in straight lines was enforced almost as religiously.

Almost the second the last man made it out of the bathroom and into the line, a guard burst through the door, already shouting at them to get a move on. They moved as one towards the dining hall, joined by other straight lines of men and women as they walked.

Wally moved on autopilot, grabbing one of the pre-made breakfasts and making his way over to his normal seat. Cameron was already sitting there. They ate together silently, eyes warily tracking the guards that paced on the outskirts of the cafeteria. No one talked in the cafeteria unless the guards decided to pick on someone, so the metas just buckled down and willed away the attention of the guards.

Sometimes, on mornings like this, running on too little sleep and a pounding headache, Wally wondered how this could possibly be his life. He wondered how he adapted to the situation so easily. Only a year into the camps and he was already casually referring to himself as a meta, already moving on autopilot through the daily motions, already used to be belittled and hurt and put down. How is it possible that people can transition to this kind of situation with such ease? What kind of survival mechanism allowed for that?

He shook the thoughts away as he ate mechanically, food disappearing quickly as the large 20 minute timer counted down from every wall. At the end of that timer, everyone would be forced to throw their waste in the trash, regardless of whether they had finished eating or not. The group would then split up, the workers moving towards whatever area they were assigned to that day and the experiments moving towards the labs. It was the same routine every single day.

As Wally threw away his food, as he walked towards the labs, as he allowed himself to be strapped to a table, different needles sticking into his skin and feeding liquids into him, as he screamed and screamed and screamed, he wondered how he could have ever believed that he'd escaped this place.

KKKKKK

When the Bialyan soldiers lay defeated on the ground, Noor promising that she would be able to look after her father, Kaldur ran. When Wally had not reappeared and when he'd realized that M'gann was missing as well, Kaldur had sent Robin, Superboy, and Changeling after them. He'd been certain that the rest of them would be able to handle the Bialyan soldiers, Apokoliptan weapons or not.

He had been correct, but no one had returned to the president's office. So, Kaldur ran. Zatanna shouted out a locator spell before Maser could even pull up the technology, all of them hurtling towards what the blueprints had said was an auditorium. None of the missing team members were responding to their comms.

Heart in his throat, Kaldur swung around a corner, kicking down the door of the auditorium. M'gann's head whipped up, her wide eyes blinking frightened at him. Her shoulders loosened when she realized who was standing there, "Oh, Aqualad. It's just you. You'd frightened me!" She trailed off slightly, arms around a rousing Conner. She noticed Kaldur's eyes flitting around to the fallen bodies in the room and she blushed slightly, explaining, "When I got here, Supersonic was already unconscious and Psimon was standing over him. Robin, Superboy, and Changeling tried to help, but Psimon knocked them out. Psimon and I fought, and I was somehow able to defeat him. I think these three are coming back around."

Icicle bustled forward with M'gann's words, beelining straight for his leader. He pressed a gentle hand to Wally's head, fingers ghosting over the speedster's skull, apparently looking for injuries. When Kaldur turned his attention back to the others, Black Canary was doing the same with Changeling, who looked small and peaceful nestled in her arms. Artemis was supporting a groaning Robin and Conner was sitting up fully in M'gann's arms. Raquel had trapped the unconscious Psimon in one of her spheres.

After a second of tense waiting, Changeling sat up quickly with a gasp, hand flying to his head as he groaned, "There's the headache I'd been expecting."

Black Canary laughed softly, "You okay there? No injuries?"

Changeling squinted bleary green eyes up at her, "Nope, no injuries. I am a-okay! Just, you know, tired. I just want to sleep."

Black Canary looked back over at Miss Martian, "Do any complications come from sleeping after a mental attack?" M'gann shook her head no, smiling encouragingly at the other green-skinned member of the team. Changeling smiled shakily back. Black Canary patted his back, "Alright, kid. How about you change into something a little more transportable and you go ahead to sleep. I'll carry you back to the ship." Changeling smiled at her, soft and trusting, before shifting into a long, coiled green snake. Black Canary rolled her eyes, but dutifully wrapped Changeling around her neck, letting him shift slightly before he relaxed into sleep.

Artemis snickered, "That is the cutest thing I've ever seen."

Ballistic let out one of his quiet, rumbling laughs, "Trust me, you'll think that a lot around Changeling. He's practically designed to be adorable with all those fluffy things he transforms into." The two of them shared a brief smile.

Icicle's hard voice called them all back to the moment, "Supersonic's not waking up."

Miss Martian made sure that Conner could stand fine before she floated over to where Icicle was crouched over Wally's fallen form, "If he received the same attack as the others, then he should be awake by now. May I?" She asked Icicle, hands hovering over either side of Wally's head. After a second, Icicle nodded, letting out a quick puff of frozen breath.

M'gann nodded back before touching the tips of her fingers lightly over Wally's temples. Her brow furrowed as her eyes fluttered closed, "This isn't the same attack Psimon used on the others. Psimon has trapped Supersonic within his own mind, thrown him into his past. I cannot directly see what Supersonic is seeing, but… he feels so lost."

Icicle's fists clenched. He demanded, "How do we get him out?"

M'gann's eyes fluttered back open, "I do not know. I am not capable of it, but we can ask my uncle to look at it for us. Martian Manhunter has much more telepathic knowledge than I do. We just have to hurry. The longer he's stuck in his memories, the more he'll forget about this."

Maser's voice was pitched with worry when he asked, "What does that mean?"

Frowning, M'gann tried to explain, "Supersonic likely went into his past while still remembering everything that has happened up until now. The only thing he _wouldn't_ remember is Psimon, meaning that he has no memory of anything that would have sent him back into his past. The idea that he's just stuck inside his own mind has probably not even occurred to him. Then, the memories will change a little bit. Little things that didn't happen in his actual past will happen in his mind now and he'll start to be confused. He'll start to wonder if he really did get sent back to the past, or if he never actually left it. Once he convinces himself that where he is now is where he's always been, he will be impossible to rescue."

"Then we'd better get him back," Artemis said, startling the group.

Icicle gave her a tense smile, expression fierce, "I couldn't have said it better myself."

 **Author's Note: Yay! Plot! Thanks for reading, guys!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Author's Note: Hope you guys have been having a good time recently! I got to see all my friends a couple of days ago for an awesome Christmas party (which, seeing all your friends when some of you move before college and most of you go to different colleges is remarkably difficult), so I'm pumped right now. Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – Aw, thank you for the review!**

KKKKKK

Martian Manhunter had been unable to rouse Wally. It had been a possibility, of course, but it was disheartening all the same. J'onn had tried for long hours, Doctor Fate and M'gann assisting him wherever they could, trying new spells and different telepathic techniques. Ballistic had gone back to Holo City to see if anyone there knew anything that could help the situation. Wally had been moved between a safehouse and the headquarters to be treated by the metahumans or the heroes. Psimon himself was useless to their investigation. He was in a coma, blasted there by the ferocity of M'gann's attack when she was facing him alone in her mindscape. It was now three days later, and nothing with Wally had changed. M'gann reported that Wally was not yet lost to them, but that it was only a matter of time.

Sighing, Kaldur rubbed at his face. Luckily, for the most part, this tragedy had managed to bring the group even closer together. The Team and the Circus were working together better than they had at any point in the alliance. They had completed a significant amount of research into Queen Bee's movements in Qurac.

Unfortunately, this new level of teamwork did not apply to all of the Circus members. Icicle had gone, well, _cold_ with his leader's fall, assuming the role of leader while Wally was incapacitated. His expression was always severe, and he never made jokes anymore. The other Circus members had assured Kaldur that this change was in no way an accusation against Kaldur. They had assured him that Icicle did not blame anyone except Psimon for Wally's condition. It was just that Icicle was Wally's best friend, that the two of them only really had each other in the world. Wally and Icicle were close to their team members and loved them as family, but they would never trust anyone the way they trusted each other. It was hard for Icicle to be alone like this, worried about whether they would ever wake Wally up.

The other person who regressed from their earlier camaraderie was Jinx. For all that she had been pulling away earlier, even from her own team, Wally's coma seemed to be the last straw for her. She was furious and refused to even so much as speak to a Team member. From what Kaldur had heard from other Circus members, she barely even spoke to them, choosing instead to either hole herself up in her room, researching, or to stay at Wally's bedside, trying to do _something_ with her magic to help him.

Kaldur startled when someone sat next to him, but it was only Icicle, worry and frustration etched into the ice of his face. Icicle was on a laptop, furiously typing something, but Kaldur could not see what it was from his angle. For a long moment, Kaldur watched Icicle, wondering what kind of horrors Icicle might have gone through alongside Wally, what kind of trauma they shared that they were so close, so connected.

Eventually, Icicle snapped, "What?"

Gazing at him evenly, Kaldur stated, "Wally informed me of his identity."

Icicle's head whipped up towards Kaldur, eyes going wide before narrowing in confusion, "I don't… why would he do that? Why are you telling me that?"

"I trusted him with my identity first and then he trusted me with his. I am telling you this so you can understand that I am here for you, however you may need me. As one of your team leaders, as your current _co_ -leader, and as, I hope, Wally's friend," Kaldur responded. He wasn't sure if he counted as Wally's friend, although he certainly believed Wally to be his friend. He knew that the kind of trust that Wally had given him by stating his name was more than the vast majority of people had received from Wally, especially non-metahumans, but he was not sure if that equated to friendship.

After a second, Icicle sighed, letting his shoulders relax a little more. He rubbed a hand over his face, emitting a curious clinking sound as the ice hit ice, "I'm trying to contact the Alliance. We're still working on a few other options. I've got Maser trying to get in contact with the Hackers, since they're likely to be able to find _something_ , but they've gone radio silent. If they don't respond by the end of today, I'm going to have to send some people to their hideout to see what's going on. Changeling's in Africa trying to get to that African tribe we mentioned a while back. When he got close enough to the tribe, his comms shut down, so we're waiting for him to pop back up again. I'm not sure we'll get anything from either of them, though, so that's why I'm trying to get in contact with the Alliance. They've been around for a lot longer than we have and I'm sure they know a whole lot more about different abilities than we do. The only problem is that they've been dealing directly with Wally and Wally only. I mean, I got the Qurac info, but that's because I was on Wally's systems since Wally and I know each other's passwords and stuff. They don't trust me to be who I say I am, and I don't know how to prove it to them."

Kaldur grimaced sympathetically. New alliances could be difficult, but they would be made even harder by the situation the Alliance has created. The Alliance aimed to be so secretive that they only allowed Wally to know significant information about them, only allowed Wally to be the one who could contact them. Now, it was causing nothing but problems.

Tilting his head to the side, Kaldur said, "Wally tells you everything, does he not? Could you not tell them something about their organization that only Wally would have known?"

"Tried that," Icicle shook his head, "They think that I'm someone who found out about the Alliance from some other source and now I'm trying to trick them into revealing more information."

Frowning, Kaldur hesitantly suggested, "This is unlikely, but is there something about _Wally_ that only the Alliance and Wally know? Knowing something few people know about Wally could prove that you are who you say you are. However, I am not certain that they would know much about Wally as they have not been corresponding long. Although, the Alliance does specialize in information, so there is a chance they know something. Would that work?"

Before Kaldur even finished speaking, Icicle's eyes had lit up and he was furiously typing something into the keyboard, this time purposefully angling the screen so there was no way Kaldur could see it. Kaldur knew he shouldn't be hurt by the action because Icicle had no reason to trust him, no reason to think that this private information would be safe in Kaldur's hands, but it still hurt to be so blatantly mistrusted.

He watched curiously as Icicle read something, eyes narrowing. Icicle typed something back, quick and sure. He read another response before sagging back in the seat, blowing out a puff of visible air, "It worked. Thank you, Aqualad. Thank you so much. I would have never thought of that."

"That is the point of a team – there are multiple different points of view and skill sets to draw from," Kaldur stated mildly.

Icicle glanced at him slightly, the hints of a smile dancing around his lips, "Is that a pointed comment to get me to pay more attention to my team?"

Kaldur ducked his head slightly to hide a smile, answering easily, "Not at all."

A new voice interrupted them, "Don't trust that. I don't know what you were talking about, but you should absolutely not trust that tone of voice. He is being a sarcastic little bugger when he uses that voice." Red Arrow stepped into the room, leaning up against the wall.

Icicle grinned at Kaldur before turning to Roy and asking sarcastically, "Aqualad? You think _Aqualad_ is being sarcastic? No… no way!"

Roy rolled his eyes, "Haha, hilarious. Is there anything I can do? Some of us heroes are getting a little antsy since the Circus won't let us go through the Alliance's research and a lot of us can't do a thing to help Supersonic. Surely there's some sort of mission or task that you could give us to do. Something. Anything."

Kaldur bit his lip, thinking. Truth be told, without a direct mission, there was little they could do. This was a new experience for the Team. Most of the time, the Team members had their everyday life to attend to, school taking up a large portion of the time not spent training or patrolling. Sure, the Team was created over summer break, but they were still putting everything together and figuring out who did what and how the Team would function, so there wasn't a lot of free time. This was an entirely new experience. Now, though? Everyone was on break. It was Christmas break and for a group of people who had little friends outside of heroes and often little to no family, that meant a lot of bored teenagers who came to the headquarters to figure something out. He knew that M'gann had a cheerleading event for a couple of days and that Conner had left on some personal business. Dick had several high-class parties to attend as part of his duties as Bruce Wayne's ward. Other than that, though, the rest of them were free and clear for the rest of the break. Free and clear and bored.

Icicle frowned slightly, "I've heard rumours that Count Vertigo is in Star City, so I've put Black Canary and Green Arrow on it, but I'd feel better if you went with them. I don't trust BC to not get annoyed with Green Arrow. It'd be best if there was a little bit of a buffer there."

Roy's expression curled into something disgusted, "You want me to help Green Arrow?"

Icicle glanced up at Roy's tone of voice, "Is there something wrong? I thought you were a hero of Star City?"

Kaldur answered for Roy, "Red Arrow used to be Speedy, Green Arrow's sidekick. He has recently declared independence and gone off as his own individual hero. Red Arrow and Green Arrow have had a tense relationship ever since."

Shrugging, Icicle glanced back to his laptop, speaking as he typed, "That's literally the only task I've got at the moment. You can take it or leave it. Black Canary's going to leave in a half an hour, so if you want to go, get the information from her and you can probably hitch a ride together."

Roy groaned, stalking out of the room. Icicle looked up after he left, "Yikes, that really sounds like a rough relationship the two of them have got. Anyways, I've got to go to a meeting with the Alliance. I'll fill you in if I get any new information." Any sense of joy that had come over Icicle's face during the conversation was gone, now. The melancholy and cold hardness had taken over again, darkening his eyes and tensing his shoulders.

Kaldur stopped him before he left, calling out, "Good luck! And… Wally _will_ wake up. I know it." Icicle stared at him wordlessly for a second before sending him a tired smile and leaving the room.

Kaldur stared after him, helpless. There was nothing he could do to help Wally other than try to hold the team together until Wally woke up.

BBBBBB

"So, babe," Iris started, and Barry tried not to groan. It was never a good thing when Iris used that tone of voice. Iris continued after a beat, "You know that I typically agree with you on most things and that I believe you are always trying to do the right thing for us. Today, though, I might have to disagree. I really, really don't think we should bring Icicle here. He wouldn't tell us why Wally couldn't talk to us instead. Something's going on and I have to agree with Julian. I don't think we should be trusting complete strangers. I know that he knew some stuff about Wally that, _theoretically_ , only close friends would know, but… we saw who the Circus was working with, Barry. They've teamed up with the Justice League's miniature team! Can we trust anything anymore? We trust heroes to act on the information we anonymously send them, but we don't trust them to really know about us. Because the heroes are against metahumans and are against metahuman resistance groups! Doesn't it look a little suspicious that the Circus teamed up with a group of heroes? That shortly _after_ they teamed up with a group of heroes and found out about us, a new person has to contact us because Wally mysteriously can't at the moment. I don't trust this!"

Running a hand through his hair, Barry sighed, "I know. Trust me, I know. This is suspicious and weird, but what else can we do? We've come across a group we can't take down on our own. The Light is too massive, filled with too many heavy hitters. It's got plans within plans within plans and we can't take it by ourselves. Maybe the Circus thought the same way and reached out to the heroes. Maybe the heroes thought the same way and reached out to the Circus. This could be a genuine team-up, could be the start of metahumans and humans starting to really work together. Come on, you've got to have _some_ optimism!"

"That optimism is going to get us killed!" Iris argued, eyes flashing.

Barry sighed again. He _knew_ that this wasn't the most ideal situation. He knew that everything was unravelling for everyone, that things were moving towards the endgame. The Light was forcing every group of people to make their moves. Metahumans groups were picking sides all over the world. Lone metahumans were disappearing from everywhere and policies towards metahumans were growing harsher in almost every country. Humans were going up in arms about metahumans and heroes and aliens. People were starting to have concrete opinions about metahuman and human relations, staring to have opinions on metahumans in general. It wasn't the bloodthirsty fear of nine years ago when everything started getting bad and it wasn't the numb nonchalance of the time in between where people mainly just accepted what was going on. It was something new, something different. The heroes had gone mysteriously quiet on the entire topic, but there were disagreements between heroes, what almost looking like shifting alliances there. The Light was bringing everything to a boiling point for a plan that only they knew about. It was confusing and dangerous and could possibly spell out the end for metahumans.

That is, unless Barry had some faith in people. Wally had told them about Icicle, his best friend and the person he trusted above all others. A person calling himself Icicle had given a factoid about Wally that only someone who knew Wally as a kid would have known. That had to count for something. Barry was willing to trust that this was the Icicle that Wally trusted, and Barry was willing to trust Icicle if Wally trusted him. He knew that the others didn't understand how easily he sometimes trusted. He knew that they didn't get how he could continue to put his faith in people after so many betrayals. He wasn't entirely sure either. All he knew was that he was going to give this Icicle person a chance because they were facing the end time now and they all needed to be working together: humans, heroes, and metahumans.

So, Barry smiled and cupped Iris's face in his hand, "Iris, please trust me. I know what I'm doing."

She remained hard and tense for a long moment before she melted into his palm, eyes fluttering slightly, "Just be careful. I would hate to have to come out there and bail you out."

"I'll be careful," Barry grinned, pressing a quick kiss to her lips before zipping away, her laughter echoing in the wind he created.

He ran over to America, looking for the place where Icicle said he would be. The plan was for Barry to grab Icicle and run him back to the headquarters in France. Cisco had given him a device to disable any sort of technology Icicle might have on him that could lead to people finding the location of the Alliance, so they wouldn't have to worry about that.

Barry stopped running somewhere in Alabama, stopping far enough away from the building that hopefully Icicle hadn't seen him. He took a moment to watch Icicle. The first thing he noticed was that the name was _very_ apt. Icicle was _literally_ an icicle. His skin was made of ice, his hair a fluffy white that looked like snow piled on his head. His eyes were icy blue. It made Barry cold just thinking of running him all the way across the ocean. The second thing Barry noticed was that Icicle seemed tired. His expression (despite being made of ice) seemed wan and weary, tired lines running through the ice. There were somehow dark bags underneath his eyes.

Carefully, Barry made his way forwards, stopping just in front of Icicle. The man (teenager, Barry thought, now that he was close enough to really see) didn't flinch at his sudden appearance, eyes skipping over Barry's form the same way Barry's had done to Icicle earlier. Icicle gave him a tired smile, "Flash, I assume?"

"I was under the impression that you knew my real name," Barry accused, idly flicking Cisco's device on behind his back. Any tracking technology that Icicle may have was now disabled.

Both of Icicle's eyebrows went up, "I was under the impression you wouldn't want me to be saying it out loud where other people could possibly hear it."

Barry shrugged, "Fair enough, I guess." Icicle's eyebrows went up further, probably judgementally, but Barry ignored them, "Ready to go for a run?"

Icicle nodded, "How do you want me? Supersonic normally carries me bride style, but I don't know what you prefer."

"Same thing," Barry answered easily, scooping Icicle up even as he spoke. Icicle made a curious squeaking noise before glaring at Barry, a light coating of frost on the ground where Icicle had been standing. Barry smiled at him, "Off we go!" And then he ran.

He broke the sound barrier in less than a second, a sonic boom chasing the edges of his feet as he tore across America, across the sea. The lightning pulled around him like a warm, welcome friend as he made it into France. Icicle was a calm, still passenger in his arms. This, at the very least, showed that Icicle was used to traveling at superspeed. Most people weren't this relaxes or easy-going when they were traveling this fast.

He didn't set Icicle down until they were well into the building, standing in the control room with Barry's department heads standing at various stations around the room. Barry immediately moved over to Iris, holding her hand and dropping a quick kiss on the crown of her head. She smiled up at him, eyes crinkling at the corners.

Icicle spoke before the rest of them could, "Wally needs your help."

Caitlyn took a half-step forward, "What do you mean? Is he hurt?"

Icicle shrugged helplessly, "I'm not entirely certain what's going on, honestly. I don't know enough about telepaths to really speak for it. I know you were the ones who told us that Psimon was in Qurac, but do you know anything about his powers?" He waited for them to nod before continuing, "He and Wally ended up facing off. We don't know all the details, but we know that Psimon hit Wally with some sort of mental attack. Wally's stuck in his past. He probably came to in his past with the memories of his whole life, but whatever the attack is, it works to convince him that everything he remembers didn't actually happen. The longer he's trapped in his mind, the more he's going to believe that none of this happened. Once he's convinced himself that he's where he belongs, we're not going to be able to save him. We've had all sorts of people try to help him out and I've got two Circus members checking out another two big meta groups to see if they've got anything, but I'm here to ask if you can help at all."

"Where is he stuck? What part of his past?" Julian asked, already taking down notes. Cisco and Caitlyn had both moved to the computers of their stations and were looking at things, trying to find an answer already.

Icicle grimaced, "We don't know. The people who've checked him out can't figure out what part of his past he's stuck in. My guess, though? He's in the camps. I mean, the past year he's been running the Circus. The six years before that? He was in the camps. It's a pretty big chunk of his life and it's probably the worst chunk he could have gotten stuck in, so…"

The group winced. Barry and Iris had known that Wally had been in the camps for six years, but the rest of the group only knew that he'd been in there for a long time, not an exact number. Six years was a long time, especially when you think about the fact that Wally was only fifteen now.

"Well, if Wally was placed in the camps, surely that means that it would be easier for us to retrieve him from his mind," Stein said, nodding along to himself encouragingly.

"Why would you think that?" Patrick asked slowly.

Stein answered quickly, moving his hands to extenuate his point, "If Wally were a young child, say, before the metahuman problem became common knowledge, then his memory of the rest of his life would seem silly to him. He probably would not even know where he came up with the notion of a metahuman. If he were in the camps, though, it would not be so far-fetched to believe that he escaped and brought his friends with him."

"Not necessarily true," Icicle said. The group turned to him, surprised. He frowned, sighing and running a hand through his hair, "I mean… everyone in the camps has daydreams or actual dreams where we escaped. They can seem really real when you're having them. Plus, he found his aunt and uncle. People in the camps have two dreams: escaping and seeing your family again. The fact that both happened in his life? That's unheard of. It'll just seem more surreal. Also, it depends on how far back he was sent. I mean, if he's far enough back, he probably hasn't even met most of the Circus yet. None of the others got there until Wally and I had been there for two years."

Ronnie made a sad noise before asking, "You were in there as long as Wally was?"

Icicle gave him a sad, broken smile, "We were sat next to each other on the same bus. Mind, I'd been on the bus for about two hours more than he had, but we were both part of the first wave of metas who were caught."

"How were you caught?" Cisco asked, horror written through every word.

Jaw clenching, Icicle asked, "Is any of this at all relevant to helping save my leader, or am I wasting my time?"

Iris winced, putting her hands up placatingly and saying, "No, it's not like that. We're going to do our best to help you. It's just that… before Wally, before the kids you sent over, we hadn't really met any camp survivors. We're curious, especially because this happened to people we knew before, people we _like_ now. We're going to help, though."

Julian spoke next, "Who has already checked Wally out? We can rule somethings out if we know that."

"I can't tell you that," Icicle said, tired, but firm.

"What do you mean you can't tell us that? We're trying to help!" Patrick said, frustrated.

Icicle shrugged helplessly, "I can't tell you that. The people who've checked him out mainly belong to the group we've currently allied ourselves with and we're not going to betray their trust by telling another group who they are."

Julian let out a quiet, "Ah," before glancing accusingly over at Barry. This was what Julian had mentioned earlier. The Circus would not want the Alliance to know who their ally was.

Icicle narrowed his eyes at the exchange, "What? What's going on?"

"We, uh, we have people in the Qurac government. That's how we knew about Bialya's movements," Barry haltingly explained, "Those same people know that it was… that it was the Team, an offshoot of the Justice League, who came and saved them, several new members added on. We know you've teamed up with the Team."

The temperature in the room plummeted. Icicle's eyes narrowed further, and puffs of chilled air swirled around his clenched fists. Standing like he was, primed to fight with a scowl on his face, Icicle looked like an incredibly dangerous enemy, one that Barry desperately hoped was actually on their side.

Icicle's voice was low and rough, like water tossed over an icy cliff, "You set us up! You gave us a mission so you could figure out who our ally was!"

"That's not what happened at all!" Iris said, moving forward a little bit. Barry moved forward with her, not willing to let her stand alone in front of this dangerous teenager.

"Then what happened?" Icicle snarled, spikes morphing out of his skin. By then, Ronnie and Stein had morphed, Patrick was standing to attention, and Cisco had his glasses on and his hand out. Caitlyn had become Killer Frost, expression mildly disinterested, but still fierce. Barry was glad that they had an ice user on their side if this came down to a fight.

Iris continued speaking, voice pitched to be soothing, but still firm, "We weren't trying to catch you out. We faced a serious problem with how quickly Queen Bee took over Qurac. There was nothing we could do to counteract it, not with how fast it happened. You were the only ones we knew who could deal with it. I don't know if this helps or hurts, but we did at least think about the fact that we'd find out who your ally was. We thought about trying to figure out a different way to stop the takeover of Qurac so you wouldn't have to inadvertently reveal your ally, but we couldn't think of a different way, so we still called you."

Icicle slung a chunk of ice at the wall, letting it smash against the metal and spread out, leaving an icy patch behind. From Barry's time with Killer Frost, he knew that was the equivalent of an ice-powered being punching a wall in frustration. Scraping a hand over his face (and creating an awful ice against ice sound that Barry had not been prepared for), Icicle took in a deep breath, eyes falling closed as he took a few more deep breaths in, obviously trying to get a hold of himself. Eventually, he said, "Okay. Okay, I can see that. I just… I just wish that Wally was here. He'd be able to deal with this better."

Julian pushed gently, "We're going to get him back, but… we really do need to know who's looked him over."

Eyes still closed, Icicle answered, "Miss Martian, Martian Manhunter, Doctor Fate, Zatanna, Jinx. We got Raven, Saturn Girl, and Mento to check him out too. Nothing from any of them."

"I only recognize the first four names," Julian said uncertainly.

"We've got info on most of them," Cisco answered, back to his computer, fingers flying across the keyboard as he pulled the information up on the screen, "The first four are heroes, although Doctor Fate had been out of commission for a while, so it's interesting that he's back up. Jinx is a member of the Circus, not too well known. Raven is a member of the underground metahuman group called the Teen Titans. Mento is member of the underground metahuman group called the Doom Patrol. I don't recognize Saturn Girl."

"She's one of us," Icicle answered, "Her telepathic abilities are mainly concentrated on skimming surface thoughts or communication, but she can sometimes alter or control minds that have been weakened by villain manipulations. We thought it might work on Wally, but if anything, Psimon strengthened Wally's mental shields, not weakened them."

Julian sighed, looking at the information on the big screens, "We've got a lot of research to do."

Barry clapped his hands together, bringing everyone's focus to the moment, "Then let's get going."

HHHHHH

Harold crept through the hallways, completely confused. He shouldn't have been able to get this far without at the very least being hailed by someone. The Hackers were technological masters. They should have had sensors warning them of him coming on the energy waves before he was within 50 miles. They should have had layers upon layers of protection that wouldn't even let him within a hundred yards of the building. They should have had people and locks and riddles lining the path into the building. There should have been safety measures and deterrents in the ranges of hallways.

He shouldn't be in here completely alone.

Licking his lips nervously, Harold crept further. Something was going on and he was going to get to the bottom of it. He would figure it out. It was going to be alright.

All at once, the power in the building cut out. Harold felt it go, dancing out of his reach. Just as suddenly, a light popped on above him. Then the one in front of it, then the one in front of that. One by one, the lights down the hallway turned out, but only in front of him. When the lights reached one of the other hallways branching off of the one Harold was in, it started turning on the lights within that hallway. The lights were making a path.

It was almost certainly a trap. This wasn't the Hackers' MO, wasn't their usual style. Besides, they liked Harold and respected his abilities. They would have seen that he had come alone, and they wouldn't have played games with him. The Hackers weren't here. Someone else was in control of the building. And that was one of the most terrifying things Harold had ever seen.

The Hackers weren't particularly skilled fighters, but they weren't horrible, and they did have some members that were incredible. Their real power lied in the fact that they knew _everything_ and were unbelievably careful. No one knew where their stronghold was unless they entrusted them with that information. And their stronghold was impregnable. The only possible way something could have happened is if someone in the Hackers betrayed the rest. But the members were cherry picked and the leader was always suspicious, even of the members. This shouldn't have happened.

Without a choice, though, Harold followed the lights. He needed to know what was going on.

It didn't take him long to go to where the lights were leading. It was where he'd been heading in the first place. He'd wanted to go to the main room where the members all sat at their computers and did their work. He'd figured that's where the most people were, where he'd get the best answer. It was, apparently, where the trap was laid.

Except, nothing happened when he walked into the room. The room completely dark other than where the light from the hallway spilled into the massive room. There was no one there, no sign of any life, no feel of any live technology. The desk chairs were pushed back from the desks, papers scattered across the floor.

Harold took a step further into the room, then froze.

Something was powering up.

All of a sudden, the large screen at the front of the room whirred into life, dark colours pixelating into a bright image. Harold squinted as a person he didn't recognize was flashed onto the screen. Another person flashed up. Then another. And another. And another. And another. Fifteen different faces flashed past in succession, starting over when the fifteenth was shown. After almost two minutes of their faces flashing past over and over again, they disappeared, leaving the screen black again. Then, huge bold letters filled the screen. They read:

WE FOUND THE ALLIANCE'S SPIES. HOW LONG UNTIL WE FIND YOURS?

GGGGGG

Garfield raced through the plains, whooping in delight as he ran – one second a cheetah, one second a lion, one second a rhinoceros. It was freeing and calming being back in the African wildlands. This was his home. He'd grown up in the different tribes of the regions, his parents going from tribe to tribe to provide understanding and medicine and knowledge in exchange for a temporary home and some of the tribes' knowledge.

He'd never lived in the metahuman tribe, but his family had travelled by it and witnessed them hunting. That was, apparently, enough for the tribe to trust him when he and the Circus had stumbled upon them. One of the men had recognized Garfield just at the moment that he'd recognized the man. It had been a somewhat tearful reunion to be honest. Plus, that was the night that Garfield had told the rest of the Circus members about his past. He'd never really opened up to any of them before. Well, he'd opened up to Wally (and, by default, Cameron), but Wally was their leader and just, like, a generally good guy.

Garfield wished that Wally's coma wasn't the reason he was visiting this tribe again. He wished that this was a better circumstance, that he could just sit and visit for a while, that he could see how the kids of the village were doing. He wished things weren't so complicated. He wished he didn't have to drag these guys into the mess the Light had created. He wished a lot of things, but none of them were going to come true any time soon.

Sighing, Garfield pulled to a stop, green zebra sides panting in the hot sun. If he had his bearings correct… right. They were just over that hill. Garfield changed back into a human, loping off towards their village. Still, no matter the circumstances, it would still be good to see them again.

Except… the village was on fire.

Garfield switched instantly into a cheetah, racing forward faster than his human legs would have been able to carry him. He skidded to a stop, switching forms just as he was finally stopping. His eyes widened, unable to fully comprehend the scene in front of him. There was an oppressive silence like he'd never known on the village.

The only sound was the fires burning on the pits that had once been houses. It had obviously been burning for a while. Stood to the side of the village were the tribespeople. They were watching the village with hooded expression, bruises blooming and cuts weeping on their skin. Garfield could see some corpses laid among the people; he could see some burning among the rubble.

And there, surrounding the tribe, were gorillas. Garfield felt his breath catch in his throat as he made eye contact with Gorilla Grodd, the one suspected of taking over Gorilla City, of selling out Holo City. And now here he was, destroying the tribe, taking away a possible lead on how to help Wally.

Garfield saw red.

But he also knew there was nothing he could do. He couldn't win against the sheer number of gorillas that (as he looked around to check) were now surrounding him, having hidden with their camouflage technology. He couldn't escape. He couldn't help the tribe. He was trapped.

MMMMMM

M'gann relaxed against the bleachers as she waited for the rest of the girls to come out of the changing room. The last cheer leading competition of the year had been that day and they'd just killed it! They hadn't quite gotten first, but it was close, and they still qualified for the next event. They'd do even better next time! And, hopefully, next time's win wouldn't be tempered by the knowledge that she had a teammate in a possibly permanent coma back home.

She really wished she could help Wally. She just… didn't know what to do, that was all. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all. Still, all she could really do at this point was keep trying things, and hope that one of them works.

M'gann heard a rustling sound in front of her and she looked up, already speaking, "So, where do you want to go to – Queen Bee!"

Queen Bee smirked at her eyes dark and smug in her beautiful face, "M'gann M'orzz, better known as Miss Martian. You know, I saw your performance earlier this week, where you pretended to be me. You really should stick to pretending to be 'Megan.' You're much better at acting her out."

"I _am_ Megan! Now surrender before I have to take you down!" M'gann hissed, trying to keep her voice down. She didn't want the girls to hear her, didn't want to give up her identity this way.

Chuckling softly, Queen Bee waved a hand back towards the changing room. M'gann followed the gesture to see the girls crowding at the windows, sharp things poised over their wrists, eyes glazed over. Queen Bee smirked again, "Before you try to… _take me down_ , please know that I have all of your little… _friends_ enthralled. If you make a move towards me, I will make them hurt themselves. And it will be all… your… _fault_." She paused and M'gann moved back a step, trying to show that she wasn't going to make a move. Queen Bee's smirk widened, "Then again, you must be used to friends being hurt because of you. Psimon might not have been there to deliver the goods to me personally, but I did receive the video recording of your little showdown with him. This recording not only shows you becoming your true form, the _hated_ white Martian, but it also shows you mentally attacking your friends. They came to rescue you and you took them out before they could see you. I can admire that kind of dedication. You are _quite_ the monster."

"I'm not a monster!" M'gann snarled, but her voice was shaking. She was. She _was_ a monster. She was a white Martian and she was ugly, and she attacked her friends and she destroyed Psimon's mind. She had messed up so many times and lied to so many people. But she couldn't just stop! People _couldn't_ know what she was.

As if reading her mind (maybe she was, maybe Queen Bee was the one planting these treacherous thoughts, or maybe M'gann was just a predictable fool), Queen Bee leaned forward, all sultry charm, "Now, my dearest M'gann, I have a proposition for you. Join me or I give this recording to your team. What will it be?"

In the end, there was really only one thing M'gann could do.

CCCCCC

Conner stared in disbelief at Lex Luthor. He'd been drawn back to Cadmus, investigating the area he had been created in. He'd met the genomorphs and Match and he'd escaped. Now, Luthor was caught in his grasp, silly red tie clutched in Conner's super grip and he was spouting nonsense.

Luthor tutted sympathetically, "Yes, I cloned Match. I sent you back to Cadmus to find the genomorphs and learn the truth from them. You are not just Superman's clone, _Conner_. Can't you see that? Can't you feel that? You are _more_ than that. You are half-Kryptonian and half- _human_. And _I_ am the one who provided the human DNA. Conner, you're my _son_."

"No," Conner growled, thoughts whirling around in his head. This was wrong. This wasn't what was going on, this was _wrong_. Luthor was _not_ his father. He was Superman's clone. That's who Conner was. He'd finally come to understand that, finally learned to accept himself in that role. That was who he was. Sure, Superman hated him, and he didn't have all the powers he should, but that didn't matter. _He was not half human!_

Reaching a hand out, Luthor winced and pulled it back when Conner lifted a threatening (shaking horribly because this was all _so wrong_ ) fist. Luthor sighed, "My dear Conner, you must know that I am right. You are my _son_. And I gladly welcome you! Although you have allied yourself with the Team, I am willing to look past that. They were the first people you saw, the first people you _knew_. I would be an awful father if I were to just take them away from you. But Conner, you have to see that you aren't meant to be with them. You are meant to be with me, one of your fathers. And the only one who cares. Superman is… Superman has many strengths, but he also has his faults. He is petty and dislikes change. Anything 'different' or 'uncomfortable' is disregarded by him. My son, I will not disregard you. I -,"

Conner cut him off, his entire body shaking now (rage because he didn't want this to be true? Grief because this was true? Fear because he was almost considering Luthor's offer?), "No. No! Take your stupid Shields back! I don't want them! I don't want you as a father! I don't want this! _Why did you create me?_ "

Once again, Luthor held a hand out, this time briefly cupping his palm around Conner's jaw before letting go and letting his arm fall back to his waist, "I won't take the Shields back. They'll help you, protect you in your upcoming trials. Things will be difficult soon. Please, be safe. And if you ever want to come to the father who cares, I will know, and I will rescue you. Now, go back to your friends. Find comfort in them but be wary of the metahumans. You can never trust a metahuman. Alright, that is all I have to say. And now, Red Sun."

Just like that, everything froze. Conner almost felt his brain whir to a stop before starting back up again. He blinked in the sudden darkness, throat closing in fear. What… what happened? It was night time. It had been the middle of the day!

A breeze floated past him, something soft tickling against his arm as it moved in the wind. Glancing down in confusion, all Connor could see was an ugly red tie clenched in one hands and Luthor's Shields clenched in the other. What had he done?

JJJJJJ

Jinx swallowed harshly and bit at her lip. This was wrong. She _knew_ this was wrong. But… but what else could she do?

Klarion and Savage stood before her, wearing identical disinterested expressions. Jinx pulled her shoulders back and her head up. She was doing the only thing she could do. She swallowed again and said, "You hurt my leader."

"He got in the way," Savage said, eyes starting to glitter with some sort of twisted interest.

"Psimon could have just knocked him out, could have done _anything_ else to get him out of the way. Now my leader is trapped in his own mind. Now he possibly won't wake up. Was this really how you were planning on getting in my good graces?" Jinx demanded. She didn't really have an end goal for this discussion, didn't have a plan. She was winging it the way she never did, and it was one of the most terrifying things she'd ever done. She always imagined that if she had to do something like this, demand things in exchange for the life of someone she cared about, that she'd have Wally at her back, ready and able to defend her. Now, Wally was lying in a hospital room, hooked up to machines and trapped in whatever dark pit they put him in. Now, she was alone, the rest of the team unwilling to listen to her.

Klarion rolled her eyes, "Where would the fun in _that_ be?"

Jinx's hands lit up pink, a snarl stretching across her face. Savage pushed Klarion back a little bit, glaring at the Lord of Chaos before turning back to Jinx, "Psimon was not acting on our orders. He was not instructed to perform such drastic actions. If he hadn't already been incapacitated by Miss Martian, we would have punished him accordingly."

"I don't believe you," Jinx said, jutting her chin out and throwing all three years of camp life into her voice, throwing the fear and uncertainty and pain into it. She wasn't some scared little girl who no one loved anymore. She was a member of the Circus. She _escaped_ the camps. She learned to control her powers. She might still be a monster, might still be rude and abrasive, might currently be on the outs with most of her team, but she knew that she had done good, that there were people who still loved her.

Savage watched her, a calm evenness to his gaze that made her feel like he could see her every thought, like he knew her moves before she made them. He spoke just as evenly, a strange compelling lull to his words, the words of a man who's lived for millennia, "Yes you do. If you didn't believe me, you would have left already. I have told you our message already. Metahumans, enhanced individuals, are the future of mankind, the _evolution_ of mankind. The Light aims to counteract the Justice League's role in preserving the calcified status quo. With the League interfering in Nature's movements, stopping crime and protecting civilians, nothing will change. Because _normal people_ know that the _heroes_ will protect them, because the heroes _do_ protect them, the normal humans of the world will never need to change, will never need to _evolve_! Mankind will remain stagnant and impotent on the universal stage. We will be overcome because the heroes protect humanity from the factors needed to evolve. Even now, our work is being fulfilled! The more we work, the more metahumans are created. Humanity is evolving because heroes are _failing_!"

"So are the metahumans! You cannot sit here and tell me that you are doing this to turn the entire world into enhanced individuals even as you hurt the leader of an underground metahuman group, even as you let us be put into camps and pulled into things like Queen Bee's metahuman army!" Jinx argued, desperate for Savage to prove her right, desperate for Savage to say something that doesn't make sense so she could go back to agreeing with her family, so they could all be a team again.

Savage's voice lifted with a passion she couldn't understand, a mission she couldn't see, "As powerful as the Light may be, we cannot _force_ the hands of humanity! We are here to show them the light! We are here to prove to them that they cannot rely on the heroes, that they cannot _trust_ them, that they must _themselves_ evolve! If the humans do not come to the realization that metahumans are not evil by themselves, then they will mistrust the realization. The struggles between humans and metahumans would only get worse. Humanity _must_ realize the truth on their own with, of course, guidance from us."

Jinx staggered back a step, pink light falling from her fingertips as her mouth opened slightly. That was… that was exactly what Wally always said. He _always_ said that humans needed to come to their own conclusions about metas. He said that if the metas pushed the realization, it wouldn't last, and the fallout would be even uglier than the current predicament. He always said that they could push a little bit, show the humans what they were about, change a few people's minds, but that the final realization, the moment where it all changed, had to come about because of humanity, not because of metahumans.

And Wally had always used to hate the heroes. He'd always hated them for not doing anything, for leaving things be for the metahumans while they religiously protected the humans.

Savage and Wally were saying the _exact same things_. Of course, Wally's tune had been changing recently, but he could hardly be blamed for that! He'd been desperate! He was just a kid who had been through far, far too much at too young of an age. He'd gotten impatient and made a move that he wouldn't have otherwise.

If he could hear what Jinx was hearing, if he could listen to her, he would surely agree with Jinx that the Light weren't as bad as they were made out to be.

Of course, they didn't go about things in the best manner and they had hurt people, but how was that any different than what the Circus did? They killed people and left humans behind and didn't always go about things the way they should. The Circus was just like a fledgling version of the Light. Wally _had_ to see that.

Eyes flashing, determined and sure of her decision, Jinx said, "You have to fix Supersonic. If he could hear your words, if I could speak to him, he would join you and the rest of the Circus would too. You need to fix him."

Savage's face remained flat even as he shook his head, "I'm afraid we can't do that. Psimon was the only one of us who could break the spell. The Circus will have to find its own way to cure him. Although, maybe you should think about helping him a little more directly. People tend to be able to do incredible things when their team is with them."

Jinx's expression twisted into confusion, but before she could ask him to clarify, he was gone. Klarion had taken them both away in a chaotic swirl of red.

No matter. Jinx would just have to figure it out herself.

 **Author's Note: Here's a long one for you guys! But, this kind of brushes up on a couple of things that happened in the show that are also happening in this fic that I never specifically mentioned before now. Plus, it pulls some of the other breadcrumbs I've left earlier in the story together. There are still mysteries that need solving! Anyways, thanks for reading!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Author's Note: Here we go with another chapter! Written at the very end of my break, ugh. I wanted to get more writing done over break, maybe give you guys a few extra chapters since you waited for a while, but my muse died somewhere during finals season, so the chapters for all my stories are a little slow coming. Ah, well. Read, review, and enjoy!**

WWWWWW

Wally sighed uncomfortably. From the seat next to him, Nick gave him a sympathetic grimace. It was nice to see that Nick was still alive. He'd slept in the bunk under Wally's bed for almost a year and a half before he'd died. Wally and Cameron always joked that Ben and Nick were the older versions of themselves: Wally and Nick were the experiments and Cameron and Ben were the workers, and they had the same kind of bond with each other. Nick and Ben spent just as many nights sat in Ben's bed whispering to each other as Wally and Cameron did in Wally's bed.

In Wally's memories (memories? Dreams? Visions?), Ben had been broken by Nick's death. Wally would never forget the broken wailing when Ben had gone over to where Nick was sleeping one morning and the metahuman had been cold, stiff, and very dead. He'd died in his sleep, early in the night from what the guards had said. The scientists had muttered something about an experiment gone wrong, Nick the unwilling victim. The metas in the barracks would never even know what experiment it was that killed him.

But that wasn't here. Nick was still alive. Wally blinked the sight of Nick's still, dead body out of his mind, shook the sound of Ben sobbing out. Nick raised an eyebrow, "You okay, kid? I know we've been asking you a lot, but we're really starting to get concerned. You've been acting really weird, spacing out more than usual, getting lost somewhere."

"Weird dream," Wally murmured back before wrinkling his nose, "Couple of weird dreams, actually. They're throwing me off, that's all." His memories/dreams played on repeat every night, reminding him that he didn't belong here, that this wasn't what was supposed to be happening, that something was wrong. He told Cameron about the dreams every morning, but Cameron seemed convinced that it was just a long term thing that the scientists were pulling, convinced that it was no big deal.

Wally wasn't so convinced. What kind of drug would do something like this? What kind of drug would give him repeated dreams that illustrated the exact same memories, ones that he had even when he was awake? It didn't make sense that this was be an experiment gone wrong. Something deeper was going on, something bigger than a botched experiment. Wally just didn't know how to _prove it_. All he had going for him was a gut feeling and the memory of the team he'd created. There was no proof for him and nothing to disprove everyone else.

Nick nodded sagely, "I know about weird dreams messing you up. When I got my powers? Whatever thing that bit me to give me the powers gave me weird dreams while the powers were developing. Messed me up for _days_. Couldn't tell which way was up half the time."

"Why can't you tell us things like that when we ask? Why do we have to overhear you telling each other about your power developments?" A scientist complained. He was the new scientist, the chatty one that none of the experiments were sure how they felt about. He treated them almost like they were people and not just test subjects. It was weird. It made it harder to dissociate from the situation. It was also… kind of nice.

"You gotta wine and dine me first, Johnny," Nick commented mildly, leaning his head back against the seat he was strapped to as one of the other scientists efficiently inserted an IV into his arm.

Johnny – Dr. Peril to most people – huffed out a quiet laugh as he hooked Wally up to the same kind of IV, slipping the needle into him with practiced ease. Wally didn't even wince any more as the needle slid in. He grabbed an alcohol wipe from a pile, swiping it over the junction between Wally's neck and shoulder, pulling out a syringe and sliding it into the spot he'd cleaned. Wally stared ahead determinedly as he felt the liquid slide like acid through his skin. It crept into his body, spreading fire in it's wake, leaving muscles twitching and clenching.

Wally gasped out a breath, whole chest constricting for one heart-stopping moment (and, for a second, it really felt like it was going to be heart-stopping, like this thing was going to push his heart too hard, pump it till it stopped) before it settled slightly, muscles twitching in different moves. He could feel the muscles in his stomach rippling, his heart beating out an erratic rhythm. His other arm started twitching, the feeling shifting down into his legs, setting his feet pressing unwillingly against the straps, burning him from the inside out. It felt like all of his nerve endings were trying to jump out of his skin, away from the burning.

Wally's eyes watered, and he tried to take in another breath, lungs fluttering painfully. He just had to hold on for a couple seconds before whatever monster liquid this was worked its way out of his system.

Except, it didn't.

It continued to burn and spread and throw him completely off. Still frantically trying to pull in something that resembled a breath, Wally mumbled through clumsily responsive lips, "H-hey, Doc. W-what is th-is, uh…, stuff?"

When Wally made fleeting eye contact with Dr. Peril, he saw the man watching him in undisguised interest. Peril's eyes were sharp and focused on Wally's spasming limbs, a timer counting up next to him. There was no soft interest there, no huffing laughs and small jokes, no sign that Dr. Peril considered Wally to be anything more than another fascinating experiment. Wally felt his breath catch in his throat for a different reason than the drug pumping through his system. Dr. Peril had been doing this on purpose. He'd purposefully made himself out to be approachable and gentle and _soft_ compared to the other scientists. It was his way of making the experiments more accessible, more likely to slip and give up information, less likely to fight back against the really bad tests.

In an effort to distract himself, Wally tried to remember if he'd known this about Dr. Peril, if his weird set of memory-dreams had any recollection of this evil side of Dr. Peril. He tried to remember if there had even been a Dr. Peril. His muscles twitched painfully again, throwing his thoughts off. He let out a small whimper.

He could feel Nick glancing over at him, eyes dark and sad as Wally twitched against his restraints, bitten out sounds of pain increasing in frequency as the pain intensified. He desperately tried to distract himself again. Dr. Peril. Was he in Wally's memories? Where was he? Did he really exist? Was he just a machination used to distract Wally from his memories of the future?

Wally couldn't remember him. He had zero recollection of a Dr. Johnny Peril. None at all. What did that _mean_ , though? Was it proof that Wally was right? Did it prove that Wally was going insane? What did it mean? Who was Dr. Peril? What was going _on_?

In the end, Wally didn't come to any conclusions about Dr. Peril's place in his delusions. In the end, all he was able to think about was the pain. It spread and burned and didn't dissipate out of his system in seconds like most poisons or drugs they tried on him did. It messed with all of his muscles – they had to eventually put him in a breathing apparatus because his lungs were struggling. He didn't know how it affected his brain or if it affected his brain. As he let unconsciousness wash over him, he hoped the drug messed his brain up enough to make him forget all of those fake memory dream things.

RRRRRR

Roy growled to himself as he stalked through another empty warehouse. The group of three had decided that the best way to find Count Vertigo would get to go through the drug scene in Star City. Their plan was to burst through the doors of every known drug distribution or creation centre and demand information. The problem was: all of the drug centres had apparently left Star City. Roy, Oliver, and Black Canary were faced with empty warehouse after empty warehouse. It didn't make _sense_.

Oliver commented cheerfully, "I guess it's onto the next one!"

Black Canary sighed, "This doesn't feel right."

"Wow, really?" Roy couldn't help asking, frustration, boredom, and a lurking feeling of uselessness settling underneath his skin, baying for blood.

Black Canary raised one shapely blonde eyebrow over her mask, an obvious reprimand on her face and in her voice, "Excuse me?"

"Come on, guys. Let's not fight! We've only got a couple more centres left and then we'll be done. It's all good," Oliver interjected, looking half a second away from physically standing between them.

It didn't work. If anything, the scowl on Black Canary's face only seemed to settle further in, her voice cutting out like a whip, "No. I'm tired of this tension and of Red Arrow acting like he's here against his will. You can go back to HQ if you want. I was nice enough to bring you along on a mission I was looking forward to enjoying with just Green Arrow and here you are, grumbling under your breath about it!"

Oliver's expression lit up, "You were looking forward to doing a mission with me?"

Black Canary's scowl slid off her face, leaving behind momentary shock like she hadn't meant to say that before it morphed into embarrassment, "Well, I told you that I'd give you a chance, didn't I? Besides, you aren't half bad looking."

Lips breaking into an excited grin that looked like it'd fit better on a three year old, Oliver tried to pull her in, "Well, a gorgeous girl deserves a good looking guy on her arm."

Chuckling softly, Black Canary tossed her hair, "You have no idea if I'm good looking."

"I can tell! Even through the mask, I can see how gorgeous you are. I _know_ you have beautiful eyes under that mask. You want to know how I can tell?" Oliver asked, leaning in a little further. Roy found himself morbidly interested.

Black Canary smirked, unconsciously leaning towards him, "How can you tell?"

Oliver grinned again, "Because I already know that I love everything about you, so no matter what you look like, it's going to be the best kind of gorgeous."

Black Canary's face was suddenly, dramatically, bright red. She swallowed and turned away, coughing slightly before mumbling, "We should, ah, check out the last places on our list. Um, yeah." She practically fled the room.

Roy snorted as he followed Oliver towards where Black Canary had fled, "Real smooth."

"Hey, it's working!" Oliver protested, "I know I've already got her because she's my soulmate, but I've just got to show her that."

"How many times have you even interacted with this woman?" Roy asked incredulously.

Oliver rolled his eyes, "Enough times! Come on, you were never one to get on my back about girls before. You know how quickly I can fall in love just as much as everyone else, but this is different. It feels different. She feels different. I don't even know what really attracted her to me for the first time. She just… You should have seen her during the split earth crisis we just had. I know you were partnered with Ballistic, but… man. She was a force of _nature_. She was so powerful and pure and… I don't know. I can't describe it. But it changed something in me, shaped it around her."

Roy had to pause for a moment. For all that he'd seen Oliver fall into and out of love too many times in the time he'd known him, this really was different. This early time period of one of his crushes usually consisted of him gushing about their "hot bod" or whatever. His wooing methods would be to basically get them drunk and throw himself at them until they agreed to go out with him sober. At least, that's how Roy saw it. He was sure there was at least a little more finesse involved, but… not that much.

This? Where Oliver was being as careful as he could be around her feelings and letting her call the shots? It was new. It was completely different. Roy shook his head, "Man, you don't even know this chick. You don't know her name or her history or what she's like outside of a crisis situation. Like she pointed out, you don't even know what she looks like! And she…" Roy trailed off, eyes going wide. Had Black Canary said that Oliver wasn't half bad looking? She had. Roy's mouth dropped open, "Has she seen you without your mask?"

Oliver's cheeks darkened slightly, and he ducked his head, "So what if she has?"

Roy threw his hands up, "Are you serious? Do you even know the meaning of _secret identity_? Why would you show her that?"

"I had my reasons!" Oliver shouted back, expression turning pained and open. This wasn't someone who felt guilty about what he'd done. This was someone who felt like they'd done the right thing, who really believed that they hadn't done anything wrong. Roy shook his head incredulously. Did Oliver really believe that it was wise to give his identity to Black Canary?

For all that Roy was steadily growing more convinced that everything he'd ever heard about metahumans was wrong, he still didn't feel close enough to this group to reveal who he was. Admittedly, he wouldn't have even revealed himself to the Team if his secret identity wasn't such a badly kept secret in the superhero world (which he blamed Oliver for). But the point still stood. He wouldn't have trusted them with this. They were strangers and killers and kept more secrets than members. They might be good, and they might be right about metas, but it didn't mean that Roy had known them long enough to really trust them.

Oliver was still going, "Why shouldn't I trust Black Canary with my identity? She's not going to give it up!"

"First of all, you don't know that! Second of all, when you trust one member of that team with your identity, you trust all members of that team with your identity! Don't you get that?" Roy shouted, fed up and ready for a fight. The drug dealers of Star City weren't providing, so Oliver was the next best choice.

Black Canary's voice cut off Oliver's argument before it could begin, "Do you really think that of us, Red Arrow? There is a level of trust among our team where, if we believe something could affect the entire team, we will talk to the entire team about it, yes. But why would his identity affect my entire team? If we get important information that doesn't affect the others, then we just tell Supersonic, who'll tell Icicle. They're the only ones who'll know. That's _it_. Besides, Supersonic was there when Green Arrow told me his identity. And do you really think I'm going to betray him? Do you really think I'm going to give other people Green Arrow's identity when he took the time to trust it to me? When he obviously cares about me? Why are you so insistent on fighting him on his own decisions? It's his choice whether he wants to tell me or not!" Black Canary finished, heaving out breaths and looking two seconds away from screaming.

Oliver was giving her a look like she'd hung the stars and the moon and the sun and the Watchtower. Roy realized with a start that this was the first woman who'd actually gotten between them before. They'd fought in front of Oliver's conquests before – they fought too much for anything else, - but none of the women every did anything about it. They would cower behind Oliver or find somewhere else to be or complain about being ignored if they were of the particularly annoying category. They'd even fought _about_ Oliver's conquests before. The man was rich enough to have, like, ten homes or something like that, but he only had the one penthouse that he brought all the girls back to. It _sucked_ for Roy to deal with the strange women coming in and out of his home, the place he was supposed to feel safe and welcome in. Instead, he got pitying glances and glares or was completely ignored, the little pet project that was as good as a piece of furniture. To all of the gold diggers and rich trash that Oliver brought in, Roy was Oliver's key to looking better for the press and nothing else, not a kid, not a person. Them thinking that about him was made worse by his own doubts, especially in the beginning. Because, for a long time, that _was_ what he thought about himself, about his relationship with Oliver. Having it confirmed by the girls that Oliver just kept bringing back had led to short tempers and a lot of arguments. But none of the girls had ever done anything about. Never.

And now, here was this woman, this person who was so completely different from the other people Oliver had latched onto. Black Canary was a metahuman, one willing to ignore the prejudices of humans and metas in order to take down an enormous criminal group. She was a hard worker, always doing something and making sure that everything worked out. She'd lived a tough life. At least, for the time she was in the camps and the time working with the Circus. She loved gardening and had the whole "mothering" act down to a t. It wasn't just the situation or Oliver's feelings that were different this time. It was the woman herself.

Black Canary glared wildly between the two, "Well?"

Roy abruptly felt himself colour up, feeling like he was being scolded, "Ah, uh… sorry. I… sorry."

With only that, Black Canary settled down, a bird coming down from puffing up it's feathers. She sighed, touching her fingers to her forehead for a brief second, "Look. I don't know what sort of problem the two of you have with each other. I heard from someone that Red Arrow used to be Green Arrow's partner, but that's all I know. But please don't bring me into this." Both men dropped their heads, cheeks and ears heating. Black Canary sighed again, "Red Arrow. It obviously bothers you that Green Arrow gave me his identity. I don't know why, exactly, it bothers you so much, but it tells me that you care about him more than you're trying to show. And Green Arrow. The way you were so excited when you found out it was going to be you, me, and Red Arrow on this tells me that you care about how he feels about me. So, can we just agree that Green Arrow had completely free reign to give up his identity and to feel about me how he likes? You two can figure out how much you really care about each other later, okay? Without me standing in the middle. Or, when Supersonic wakes up, you can have him mediate. He's good at that." Black Canary stood there, looking tired and worn out. Roy was abruptly reminded that her leader was in a hospital bed, another teammate paralysed from the neck down. What kind of alliance had this been for her?

Green Arrow nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, I can agree to that."

And, abruptly, Roy was reminded of just why he was angry, "Of course you could agree with that! Well, news flash! Giving away your identity doesn't just compromise you!"

Black Canary cut in sharply, "What do you mean? Why would it implement anyone… else…" She gave him a look of dawning comprehension. Roy felt the colour drain from his face. This was bad. This was really bad. Why had he said that? Why had he opened his stupid mouth? Black Canary practically whispered, "You're his son. Or, well, you know. You're related. So, when someone finds out who Green Arrow is and starts looking into him, they'd see the similarities between your civilian identity and you. Oh, I'm so sorry."

Green Arrow glanced up, "Why are you sorry?"

"Well, Red Arrow's right. This argument isn't just on him. You should have discussed this with him first. You still should discuss this with him. _All_ of it," Black Canary said, giving Green Arrow a pointed look. At first, Roy thought that she meant that Oliver should talk to him about not only the identity thing, but also the love thing and _that_ was a solid no, but then he took in the way Oliver's shoulders tensed and his mouth flattened a little bit. There was something else there, something between the two of them that Oliver didn't want him to know about. Typical.

"Okay," Oliver said, shoulders loosening again, a resigned expression falling over his face, "Okay, fine. Can we get back to hunting drug dealers now?"

Roy grimaced, "As much as I hate to say it, I agree. Can we get back to hunting drug dealers?"

"Just one more thing," Black Canary said, ignoring the commiserating glances the two gave each other, "Fair's fair and, well, through the time I've known the two of you… I think you deserve it." Carefully, after glancing around, Black Canary reached up to her mask and started tugging it off. Roy's eyes went wide, and Oliver made an aborted motion towards the woman. Black Canary pulled the mask all the way off and tossed her head, brilliant blue eyes almost distracting them from the insecurity and slight layer of fear beneath.

Slowly, Oliver moved closer to Black Canary, ghosting a hand along the side of her cheek carefully. He lowered his hand and stepped back a little, just enough to give her space, "See? You are beautiful."

She gave him a slow, careful smile, eyes shining at the reverent comment, "My name is Dinah Lance. I was, well, I was a florist before all of the stuff with the camps went down. I knew how to fight because my mother was a hero. She was Black Canary before I was, actually. One of her old crime fighting partners, Wildcat, taught me the most about fighting, but mom helped a lot. She wasn't a metahuman, but she was still a good hero."

Oliver was giving her his awed face, the one he only wore when he was having a Moment, a moment where he re-evaluated everything. Roy was kind of feeling the same thing. This was huge. He accidentally blurted out, "You're the first metahuman to tell one of us your identity."

Black Cana – _Dinah_ blinked at them, "Oh, you didn't know? Maser and Green Lantern told each other their identities. Well, I'm pretty sure all of us know who Green Lantern is by now. And Icicle told me just before we left that Supersonic and Aqualad gave each other their identities. Oh, and Firehawk told her doctor who she was. So, I'm the fourth actually."

Roy squawked indignantly, "What? I thought I was special! When was all this happening? Why wouldn't Aqualad have told me? I am _so_ offended right now!"

After a second's pause, both Oliver and Dinah burst out laughing, clutching their sides. Dinah had a hand over her mouth, trying to muffle the giggles. Oliver had used the moment as an excuse to wrap an arm around Dinah's waist, using her solid mass to hold himself up. Looking at the two of them – hero and meta – standing there wrapped around each other, laughing, emotional walls slowly but surely dissipating over time, Roy couldn't help but think that it was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen.

Of course, that would be when the League of Assassins attacked them.

They'd come out of nowhere, swarming down from the ceiling and across the ground. The three of them were surrounded in seconds, Dinah throwing her mask on as quickly as she could. Roy wondered how long they'd been there, how much they'd heard. He had a sick feeling at the pit of his stomach at the thought of them overhearing Dinah's life story, her identity.

He didn't have even a second to concentrate on that, however, because, as one, the assassins attacked. Dinah's Canary Cry knocked out a good number of them before Oliver or Roy even got a chance to pull out an arrow, but from there it wasn't such easy pickings. Despite that, the three of them moved like a well-oiled machine, which shocked Roy. When the Circus and the Team first started training together, they were a mess, uncoordinated and in each other's way more than the enemy was. And, sure, Roy had trained with Dinah and he'd trained with Oliver, so it made sense that he could work with each of them, but Dinah and Oliver hadn't worked together more than the one day that the world was split from what Roy knew. Maybe Oliver was right when he said that they were soulmates. It certainly seemed like it the way they fought together seamlessly.

Oliver would be there, arrow notched, kick sent, punch thrown the second Dinah knocked a group to their feet. Dinah and Oliver swirled around each other, two intertwining winds, dangerous and free and connected. Dinah would hold a man while Oliver punched him out and Oliver would trip a man into Dinah's high kick.

Still, there were too many well-trained assassins for just the three of them to deal with. They needed to get out of there and regroup, try to call some people in for help.

They moved as one towards the door, carving a path there as quickly and efficiently as they could. It was slow going and treacherous and Roy knew that he was taking a punch or two more than he wanted, but finally, _finally_ they got out.

Except (of course), immediately outside the door were Sportsmaster and Cheshire. The two looked at each other and broke off into different directions instantly. Roy cursed and shouted, "I'll get Cheshire! You two go after Sportsmaster!"

He didn't look to see if they listened, didn't look to see how they fared or if the assassins had chased them out of the building or not. He had to get to Cheshire, had to take her down. There was something about the assassin that rankled him, that pulled under his skin and made him defensive when she was even so much as mentioned. The kiss in that cell had only made it worse. He _wasn't_ attracted to her. He _wasn't_.

But he lost her. He got distracted by his own problems and lost her until her voice called out, silky smooth and sensual behind him, "Broken Arrow."

He didn't remember her asking why they were looking through the drug world of Star City. He didn't remember her asking why they spent so long in this warehouse. He didn't remember her asking about the fight between him and Oliver. He didn't remember her asking about Dinah's identity. He didn't remember giving full, detailed answers to every question.

All he knew was that the last thing he remembered was making the break away from the warehouse. And yet… and yet here he was, standing confused and dazed almost a mile from the warehouse, Dinah and Oliver frantically calling out to him.

WWWWWW

Wally didn't get dinner that night. He had to be carried back into the barracks, the guards dropping him off just inside the door as the rest of the experiments filed in after him. The ones who were strong enough to carry him after their own tests lifted him up and carried him back to his bed block. They left him in Nick's bed because none of them wanted to carry him to the top bunk. Nick climbed up into his bed instead.

For about a half an hour, the group of them just dozed on their beds. Some did small stretches before resting, trying to get the cricks out of their joints after a day being strapped down. Some just curled up in balls and tried to keep themselves together. Others didn't even get to go back to their barracks, stuck for a test that requires supervision for more than a day.

Wally just laid in his bed, trying to ride out the waves of muscle contractions, trying to stifle his pitiful moans. Whatever they'd given him was still pulsing through his system although it was significantly less painful than it had been in the morning. Honestly, by this point, most of the pain came from the contractions instead of the liquid fire burning through his veins. His muscles had been contracting and twitching _all day_ and were completely overused and sore. Wally was _exhausted_.

So, when the guards came back to bring the experiments to dinner with the workers, Wally stayed where he was, unable to even stand. It was a general rule that you couldn't go to dinner if you couldn't stand on your own. It really sucked sometimes because Wally could feel his stomach gnawing at him, reminding him that a day full of muscle contractions worked off a lot of energy.

Twenty minutes later brought everyone back into the barracks. Cameron made a beeline for their bed block, hopping onto the ladder to check the top bunk the second he got there. Wally, from Nick's bed, could see Cameron's shoulders physically slump at the sight of the empty bed. Licking his lips slightly and trying to convince his jaw that it wanted to move, Wally rasped, "H-here."

Cameron's head whipped up before he slid back down the ladder. He blew out a sigh of relief when he saw Wally on the bottom bunk, "What're you doing in Nick's bed?"

It was Nick who answered, thankfully, "He had a rough session today. Guards had to carry him back, but they dropped him just inside the door. The rest of us couldn't get him up to his bed, so he's taking mine for the night."

Wally swallowed again, the motion sending pain careening through his throat. He forced out, "…thanks."

Nick gave him a tired smile, gauze pads settled over his collarbone and wrists, "No problem, kid. It's going to be a whole switcheroo in here, though. Ben's taking your bed, so I don't have to climb up either. I didn't have the best run today either." Wally gazed back evenly, wanting to not to him, but not quite willing to risk the pain.

Nick understood anyways because he gave Wally a thumb's up before falling onto Ben's bed, Ben settling at the foot of the bed afterwards, bending their head together to talk.

Cameron took up a similar position on Nick's bed, leaning back up against the wall, "Yikes. Today was just rough on everyone. We had to do some insane stuff. You know how they're having us build those new barracks? Well, apparently they have to keep every building identical, so we had to put those massive bricks on the outside of the buildings, the same ones that are outside our buildings. But there were a lot of buildings and a lot of bricks. Those things are _heavy_ too! Someone heard one of the guards say that there's some sort of weird metal mixed in with the clay that makes the bricks super hard to break. Harder for a breakout, you know? But I'm _exhausted_. Why they didn't just have the strong metas work on that bit. I could have… I don't know. Stocked the fridge or the freezer or something. Kept people cool in this _unbelievable_ heat."

Ben called over from his place, "Yeah, well, some of us are strong metas and we still didn't want to work on that bit."

"Hey, pay attention to your own conversation!" Cameron laughed, shaking his head fondly. People butting into other conversations was a pretty regular occurrence. They were all so close to each other and the room carried noises well. Any noise you made was heard by everyone else.

There was exasperation in Ben's voice when he answered, "My conversation partner's asleep already."

"Yikes," Cameron muttered, his steady presence against Wally's leg shifting slightly as he, presumably, looked over at Nick to check, "You know what they had for him today?"

Ben sighed, "Nah, no clue. You know them. They'll avoid talking about it at all costs. Maybe when we've been here for a little longer. If you think about it, even a year and a half or whatever isn't all that long to get to know somebody."

Wally fell asleep to the sounds of the two quietly lamenting their situation above him.

When he woke up in the morning, it was to the sound of Ben's broken wailing. He'd gone over to where Nick was sleeping and found him cold, stiff, and very dead.

BBBBBB

Bruce sighed and rubbed tiredly at his face. The things he'd discovered about the camps… He was still in the fledgling stages of his research, but it was enough to make him furious, to make him sick that something like this had ever happened, that it was still happening.

A young voice called out from behind him, "You coming upstairs for dinner, Bruce?"

Bruce grimaced and tried to quickly minimize the files open on the wall of monitors, desperate to make sure that Dick wouldn't see any of the horrors that had been committed against the metahuman population. He was too slow.

Dick made a choked off sound before he rushed forwards, "What was that? What were you looking into, Bruce?"

"It doesn't matter. Let's go eat dinner," Bruce said softly, standing up from the computers and desperately hoping that Dick would _for once_ listen to him. Then again, he wasn't entirely certain he'd be able to eat dinner after the research he'd done.

Either way, Dick didn't respond, just moving closer to the computer. He quickly pulled up the files that Bruce had managed to close, scanning over each one, flicking through the pictures and reading the material.

Alfred's voice floated over from the staircase, "New mission?" His voice was sardonic and oh so very tired at the same time.

Bruce sighed, "No. After meeting with Supersonic and the Circus, I've been doing some research into the camps, into what they do."

Letting out a small, horrified huff, Dick shook his head, " _This_ is what the camps do? This is what happens to the metahumans when they get put in the camps? The camps are supposed to be helping." His voice was small and heartbroken by the time he finished.

Alfred moved silently closer, letting out a quiet, "Oh, my."

Bruce swallowed, "We all thought that the camps were doing the right thing, that they were equivalent to a rehabilitation centre or a long-term experimental medication centre. We didn't think it would be like this. It's no wonder that the metahumans don't rescue humans, that so many of them are afraid of us. And we had the gall to believe that the _metahumans_ were the dangerous ones. They were fine. We were the ones who were dangerous to them. How many people turned themselves in to metahuman camps in the belief that they would be going there to be cured? How many people turned in family members or friends in order to do the right thing and get them the help they needed?"

Dick winced, "Could you imagine committing a family member to these places and finding out what is really happening there?"

Shaking his head, Bruce put a comforting hand on Dick's shoulder, "We should have researched this sooner. We should have been able to make this better for them before people like Supersonic and the Circus felt the need to escape, risking their lives. We should have been able to help metahumans before so many of them felt like their only chance at surviving, at living a normal life, was to join the Light. We should have realized this was going on."

Alfred opened his mouth, probably to argue with Bruce, to tell him that he shouldn't keep taking blame onto himself. He didn't get a chance, however. There was a brief blaring noise from Robin's comms, which were tucked carefully into his pocket for dinner. Dick grabbed the comms and stuck them in his ear, listening intently. All of the blood drained from his face.

He turned to Bruce and Alfred and whispered, "The Light have Changeling."

WWWWWW

The aftermath of Nick's death passed in a blurry haze. Wally missed breakfast as even through the trauma of Nick's death, he'd been unable to muster the willpower to push past the pain and get up. He'd been forced to watch from Nick's bed (he felt dirty and weird and uncomfortable and so, so sad being stuck in Nick's bed while Nick was dead in the bed next to his) as Ben cried, other men from the barracks rushing forwards and trying to see if there was anything they could do to revive him. They hadn't been able to do anything.

It hadn't been long before the guards had heard Ben's sobs, rushing into the room and shocking everyone when they didn't immediately stand to attention at the sight of the guards. They shocked Ben for longer in punishment for the loud noises he was making. Once the electricity stopped, he went silent, eyes glazed and expression so, so lost.

The guards moved to look at what had interested the metas so much, poking and prodding at Nick's body. One of them rolled his eyes and sighed, "All this noise because of a dead meta. Get it out of here. Don't dump this one like usual. The scientists sent out a new order saying that they're going to do tests on all the dead bodies."

The other guard sighed but nodded. He crouched down and swung Nick's body over his shoulder in a fireman's hold. He jogged out of the room, taking Nick from them. The first guard glared at them before exaggeratedly looking at the watch on his wrist, "You've got six minutes until I come back to bring you to breakfast. You'd better be in line by then." He turned around and stormed out of the room, all the metas stood there frozen while he was in the barracks.

The second the door closed behind him, they burst into action. People who usually used the bathroom whipped into their day clothes instead, knowing they wouldn't have time to use the bathroom that morning, hoping and praying that they wouldn't need it until later that night, knowing they'd have to make do if they did need it. Wally remained where he was, glued to the spot, muscles sorer than they'd ever been in his life, sore enough that every little movement was accompanied by staccato bursts of pain through each muscle.

Buddy leaned over into their bed block, giving Ben a quick shoulder squeeze before he saw that Wally was still lying there. He asked worriedly, "You okay there, kid?"

A lot of the others glanced over at Buddy's question. Wally tried not to be embarrassed by the attention, "Move – hurts." He gasped the words out, sparks of pain chasing his words.

"Still?" Asher asked incredulously. He leaned over the edge of his own bed block, despite the fact that there was no way he'd be able to see Wally from that angle. His tone morphed to concern when he asked, "Doesn't your healing usually deal with that?"

All Wally could do to answer was give out a small whimper.

Asher winced sympathetically. Buddy had started helping Ben at that point, prompting him to get changed into his day wear. Cameron came back and hovered worriedly. When the six minutes were done, though, they were all in line and Wally was stuck in his bed, still wearing his night clothes.

The guards moved through the bed block, watching him with sharp eyes and nasty grins. The guards liked it when the metas couldn't get up, were stuck in bed for some sort of injury or were mandated bed rest by either the scientists or the small on-call medical team. It meant they could go into the barracks and jeer at the meta, mock them and tease them and sometimes even shock them while the meta couldn't do a thing. The guards didn't have to worry about getting the scientists' way or slowing down the workers. They didn't have to worry about riots if they got too nasty. And Wally was going to be stuck here with them.

A scientist was called in while the metas were eating breakfast. Wally wasn't sure if he should be thankful that it wasn't Dr. Peril. The scientist bustled around him, checking his reactions on certain things and taking measurements. He frowned deeply for a second before sighing and hooking Wally up to a bag of nutrients, one of the ones specially designed for metas with higher metabolisms. It still wouldn't replace the two meals he'd skipped, but it was better than nothing.

Then he was gone, and Wally was alone.

That didn't last long. Wally could just hear the metas leaving to their assigned areas when the door to the barracks opened, three or four guards trooping in. Wally felt a little part of his soul shrivel up at the sound.

For a long, heart-stopping moment, the guards just watched him. It was only three of them, two guys and a woman. The woman had a hand on the collar controller and was stroking it idly. Wally closed his eyes and tried to pretend this wasn't happening. Tried to pretend that he was back in the future, back where he had a team, a family. He wasn't here. He got through this, got through the days of humiliation. Wally got through the experiments and the hunger and the deaths. As the guards started jeering, started mocking, started hitting him, started laughing when all he could do was whine pitifully in the back of his throat, Wally believed with all of his heart that his memories of the future were true. Because he didn't know what he'd do if he didn't escape.

 **Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter is a little off. I'm super tired for no good reason today (and have no other time to write this chapter), so it's rambly and weird. Sorry about that. Hopefully the flashbacks/mind trap thing/whatever makes up for that. Anyways, thanks for reading!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Author's Note: Alright, we're doing a lot better with the amount of homework now. I've gotten it under control now and everything is all good. Wowza, that was stressful. Okie dokie, here's the next chapter! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Anett – I'm glad you like it! Haha, you'll find all of that out once I figure it out myself :P Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Wally was stuck. After Nick's death, after the way Ben had gone silent and cold, after his revelations about Dr. Peril, he couldn't in good conscience ignore his memories. He couldn't ignore them because there was an escape plan in his memories. He _knew_ how to get out of the camp. And yeah, when he'd escaped the camps in his memories, the camp had had some different safety features and he'd had a crew of people who weren't at the camp now. But he had _something_. He could work with that much. He could craft an escape plan around the barebones that he had in his memories and just… and just hope that his memories were actually memories because if they were something else, something his mind or the scientists cooked up, then he was going to die during this escape plan. There was no way he wouldn't.

But he couldn't just sit around anymore. Nick's death had shown him that. Wally _remembered_ Nick's death from those other memories. He had known that Nick was going to die, and he hadn't done a thing to stop it. He was _not_ going to watch others die when he could have prevented it.

Still, determination aside, there was the problem of actually finalizing the plan. And, more importantly, communicating the plan. When he'd escaped in his memories, he and Cameron had spent years developing their hand signals, enough for him to communicate the plan he'd come up with. Of course, that didn't help the other people who escaped with them, but at least one other person knew the plan. Now? Their hand signal system was not nearly developed enough. Wally would be the only one who knew the plan. If he was shot down, it would be a death sentence to anyone who wanted to escape with him.

Wally shook his head and sighed. He'd figure that out later. For now, he needed to gather information in order to check the finer details of his plan. He needed to figure out who he could count on to come with him.

So, for a few days, Wally observed. He watched the guard rotations, slyly got information about the set-up of the rest of the camp from the builders who were actually allowed to traverse the camp. He checked the security, looked around at the cautions taken in the labs, felt around his shock collar to figure out the general design, to check it with his memories. Pretty much everything matched up. He wouldn't need to change much in his plan, which was great.

That night, as the two were getting ready for light's out, Wally caught Cameron's sleeve, "Hey, want to do a sleepover tonight?"

Cameron snorted, but nodded with a smile. It was a joke between the two of them. Normal kids would be having sleepovers at their age, but they were here in this room, together every night but definitely not having a sleepover. So, Cameron had joked one day that it was only a sleepover when they slept on the same bed, whispering about lame things till late at night before finally falling asleep. Tomorrow was the big day. It was the day he was going to finally attempt his escape. He needed this late night of almost normalcy with Cameron before he tried to make a move tomorrow.

Wally shoulders sagged and he gave Cameron a small smile of his own before the two climbed up onto Wally's bed, shudders creeping up their spine at the empty, gaping hole where Nick would normally be relaxing at this time of night.

They settled into bed, back rested against the concrete behind them and legs swinging over the edge of the bed. Cameron side-eyed Wally for a moment before asking suddenly, "Why don't you smile anymore?"

Wally turned startled eyes up to meet Cameron's ice-blue ones. He stuttered for a moment before settling on honesty, "Because of those memories. Our life kind of sucked. I still remember everything that happened in it, though, so… I remember being in this camp for a very, very long time." He wouldn't let that happen this time, though. He'd escape and he'd try to find one of the telepaths he remembered meeting, like Raven or Saturn Girl. He'd see if they could get him back to where he belonged.

Cameron sighed, tipping his head back, "I don't think this is an experiment anymore."

"You believe me?" Wally asked incredulously.

Cameron wrinkled his nose, "I believe that you are having these dreams and they're sticking with you weird. I don't believe that it actually happened. I think… Well, I was talking with some of the other builders and they said that something like what you're going through is probably some sort of psychotic break-down. Your mind created this false life as an escape route or something."

Wally sagged back into his spot, "I'm not crazy, Cam."

Pausing for a moment, Cameron admitted in a small voice, "I think we're all crazy. Or, at least, getting there. I don't think that the people who are admitted here are the same people who are going to get out. Then again, I'm not really sure we're _going_ to get out. But if we do, it won't be the same. They're going to break us here. They've already sent you into a psychotic breakdown. You _know_ they've done the same to Ben. I mean, he hasn't said a single thing since Nick died. I'll either do the same as you two or I'll die."

Wally pursed his lips, "I did not ask for a sleepover just to talk about depressing things." Cameron attempted a smile, but it didn't quite form properly. Wally sighed, "Just don't give up. Maybe all of those things will happen. Maybe it'll be worse. But we can't give up."

"Yeah," Cameron said, apathetic and tired and half-way to dead anyways, "Yeah."

KKKKKK

The message had been sent to Icicle while he was with the Alliance. He'd called over the comms, frantically asking all members to convene in the main room of the headquarters, no matter what assignment they'd been working on. Leslie had even managed to wheel Firehawk down to the room, hand tightly clutching one of Firehawk's hands. Conner and M'gann had walked into the room, shaken from something that Kaldur did not have the time to address, confused by the urgency of the summons.

Roy, Oliver, and Black Canary came in at the same time, Roy wearing one of his tough-guy masks and the other two trying to subtly hover over him. Maser's face was deathly pale, mouth working like he was hardly holding back from saying something. Green Lantern came in soon after him, immediately standing by Maser's side and clasping his shoulder lightly for a moment, quiet words exchanged between the two.

Artemis came in with Batman and Robin on her heels, the latter two with matching scowls and a dark sadness cloaked over their shoulders. Robin sent the metahumans in the room an inscrutable look, expression softening. Ballistic walked in with Raquel and Zatanna on his heels, the three looking like they'd run from the kitchens, a sandwich still clutched in Raquel's hand.

Jinx came in last, almost a full minute after the rest of them, expression drawn and scared. She drifted into a corner as far from the heroes as she could manage in the room. Kaldur nodded to all of them and then turned his comms back on, "Icicle. We have all gathered in the conference room. You said something about Changeling?"

Icicle's voice opened up to the whole room, coming from the speakers spread throughout the room, a vague outline of his figure appearing on the screen of the room. There were other figures hovering behind him and Kaldur started when he realized that this was likely the members of the Alliance, showing this much just to help them with the Changeling problem. This was probably the largest meeting of heroes and metahumans since metahumans even became a thing.

Icicle said, "The Light just sent me a message, through the Alliance's networks. They showed me a video of Changeling. I just sent it over now."

The shadowy figures on the screen dissipated for a second before a different video filled their place. There was a dark room, the stereotypical concrete walls and floors often found in hostage videos. There was a chair in the middle of the room, a light swinging above it. The chair was some sort of heavy metal, bolted into the floor with heavy duty bolts. Changeling was strapped down in the chair, metal bands trapping each of his limbs. His chest was chained to the chair. There was a dark metal band around his neck, sleek and smooth, but obviously still chafing at his neck if the red peaking out from beneath it was any indication.

For about ten seconds, nothing happened. The only things showing that the video was even playing was the slight rise and fall of Changeling's chest and the clichéd swinging light. Then, suddenly, the metal band around Changeling's neck lit up and his back arched off the chair, straining against the chains holding him down. His hands twitched under their restraints. His mouth opened in a soundless, choked off scream.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kaldur saw Jinx and Ballistic touching their hand lightly to their own throats. A new voice tore Kaldur's attention back to the screen, "We are proposing a simple exchange. Give us the name of the Circus's spy and we will return Changeling to you. If not, well, Queen Bee could always use more members for her metahuman army. And she is _very_ good at breaking resistant minds." The video cut out, the last image a shot of Changeling frantically shaking his head no.

Icicle started talking again, "That was Vandal Savage speaking. We don't know what happened on Changeling's end. We don't know how he was captured, or where. We don't know if he managed to get information on Wally's condition or not. All we know is that he is well and truly compromised. I was hoping we could have gotten something, _anything_ , from our other sources to help get Supersonic out of his coma so we can rescue Changeling. Maser, did you get anything from the Hackers?"

Maser's expression crumpled even further, "Only more bad news. The Light knows who the Alliance's spies are."

One of the shadowy figures on the screen blurred until he was standing next to Icicle, "How do you know that?"

"I got to the Hacker's hideout and it was completely empty. No one was there. I got to the main control room and the monitors turned on. It kept repeating fifteen different faces and I had no clue who they were. Then the monitors went dark and it just said, 'We found the Alliance's spies. How long until we find yours?'" Maser answered miserably. The figures on the screen staggered back.

The one that had moved to the front cursed, "No. No! This can't be happening!"

"It obviously did," Icicle snapped, "We have to assume that our spy is either compromised or close to it. My guess is that they're going to try to use Changeling to ferret out the spy regardless of our decision. They're probably going to try to get to the spy before we do and then they'll kill both of them. We need to get Supersonic awake _right now_."

"Is there a reason we can't rescue Changeling without getting Supersonic in on it?" Artemis asked, arms crossed and tone confrontational. Kaldur knew that Artemis got into arguments when she was nervous, but this was the worst possible time to get in an argument. Especially with the coldness that had crept into Icicle's voice, the easy dismissal of fifteen discovered spies. That was a man on a warpath, determined to save his family and not caring about much else.

Black Canary answered for him, "Not necessarily, but it would be easier with one of our strongest members in the game, wouldn't it? We create a plan while he's waking up and it'll all work out. Right now, regardless of whether we can wake Supersonic up or not, we have no clue where the Light headquarters are. We have no idea how to get in or where to go once we get in. We have no plan. Maybe Supersonic can come up with something if we wake him up. Maybe our spy will contact us while we wait. There's no way to tell. We're just going to have to wake Supersonic up and hope for the best."

"We don't have anything to help with that either!" Artemis responded, throwing her arms up, "It's just been dead end after dead end! We're not closer to find a method to wake him up!"

In the back of the room, Jinx's expression shuttered off and she tilted her head to the side. She started mouthing words to herself. Kaldur called out, "Jinx, do you have something? You were gone for a long time."

Her head whipped up and she glared at him, lips pulling back in a snarl. Icicle's voice came out of the speakers like a knife, sharp and direct, "Jinx, answer the question! We don't have time for your attitude right now, understood?"

Jinx's hands formed fists, pink light playing over them for a second before she unclenched them. She forced out, "I may have an idea. I was talking to… someone, and they said that we should think about helping him a little more directly, that people tend to be able to do incredible things when they have their team with them."

M'gann's expression opened with understanding, "More direct. They mean…"

Jinx finished for her, "They mean entering Supersonic's mind and convincing him that the whole thing is an illusion. At least, that's what I believe they mean."

"No, that makes sense," One of the voices from the screen said, one different from before. The voice continued after a second, "If you could get into his memories and find where, exactly, he's stuck, you'd be able to talk to him. He's still having doubts about where he is, so there's still something you can do. It might be enough to pull him back out with you."

"How do we get into his memories, though? How do we find the right ones?" Green Lantern asked, lips pulled back into an out-of-character frown, expression dark and troubled.

M'gann frowned lightly, "I believe I would be able to transport myself and a few others into his memories. I should be able to find him by bringing someone with a strong connection to him along."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ballistic asked, "Let's go!"

"It's not that simple," M'gann said despondently, "The trap on Supersonic's mind is very strong, his mental shields strengthened. The only people I would be able to bring along would be people that I myself have a very strong mental connection to. I think I would be able to bring Icicle, too, though since he has such a strong connection with Supersonic. I think that would be enough to bring him along."

"You cannot be serious!" Black Canary said, arms flinging out, "Are you saying that we can't go in there and help him? We have to just trust that you guys can get him?"

Artemis threw back, "Well, I'd hoped after so long together that you would be able to trust us to get him out!" Her words were brash, but Kaldur could see the hurt in the lines of her shoulders.

He was about to try to diffuse the situation, but Batman beat him to it, "They have reasons to not trust people. But, Icicle will be going with the members of the Team that go. Miss Martian. Choose members to go with you. Icicle. Get back to base. Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Dr. Leslie. Go prepare the medbay for a trip into Supersonic's mind. The rest of you, we are going to work with the Alliance to consolidate the information we have about the Light. Hopefully, we will have a location and a plan by the time Miss Martian and the others return from Supersonic's mind."

For a second, the metahumans didn't move. They stayed still, expressions tense and distrustful. They glanced to each other worriedly, looking for some sort of leadership to tell them what to do. Finally, Icicle sighed, "Do what Batman says. I'll be there as soon as possible. We're going to get Supersonic back."

WWWWWW

Wally pulled every trick in the book to fake a sickness. He purposefully didn't eat as much as usual the day before, leaving him slightly pale and a little dizzy. He made sure to move slowly and sluggishly, getting into the bathroom line absolutely last. He played up his nausea and the pinched expression of someone with a headache, pitifully clutching his blanket around him and trying not to shiver. The other men in the barracks made tutting sounds and watched him with concern, but there was nothing they could do.

He waited until the guards came in to bring them to breakfast to really make a move. The second the guards stepped into the room, he made a gagging sound before making a beeline for the bathroom, shutting the door quickly and running some water. He cupped some in his hands before making fake retching sounds, dropping the water into the toilet with a wet splash. He shut the toilet lid and flushed it, leaning his back over the toilet and hanging his head down over the floor, making sure the blood rushed to his face. It wouldn't seem like he had that big of a fever, but it was the best he could do. There wasn't really any hot water or blow dryers, so he couldn't do anything like that to make him seem feverish.

The guards burst in moments later, finding him pitifully slumped against the open toilet, face flushed and movements sluggish. They snarled and dragged him to his feet. He didn't even need to fake disorientation when they dragged him from the room; they moved so fast that he never really got a chance to get his feet under him.

As the guards passed the line, Wally made sure to make significant eye contact with Cameron. Cameron startled back a little bit, eyes wide and scared in his thin, pale face. He swallowed harshly but nodded his head. Relieved, Wally let his head slump and continued to stumble along as the guards dragged him over to the experimental labs.

They tossed him in the room, startling the scientists who weren't expecting anyone for another twenty minutes. One of the guards grunted, "It's sick." And that was it. The two guards left the room, probably heading back towards the cafeteria.

The scientists murmured amongst themselves, gesturing to one of the guards permanently stationed in the labs to pick Wally up. Wally was carried over to one of the tables and laid down on it. No one thought to strap him down, just leaving him lying there, weakly shaking like he was cold.

The first blip in Wally's plan came when the scientist who assigned himself to Wally's care leaned over towards Wally. It was Dr. Peril. Wally had to resist the urge to flinch back into the table. After that day with the horrible poison, he'd become terrified of Dr. Peril. The man was completely psychotic. He found some sort of disgusting, sick pleasure in hurting the metahumans. He wasn't a dispassionate observer like the rest of the scientists. He wasn't someone who thought that the metahumans were just random test subjects who couldn't think and weren't really sentient. They treated metahumans like test samples, not real people. But Dr. Peril acknowledged them as people, treated them like they were real. He knew what they were and still enjoyed hurting them and experimenting on them.

Dr. Peril seemed to realize that Wally was terrified of him, too. He gave Wally an absent-minded smile and a short pat on the head. He moved over to one of the side tables and called over his shoulder to Wally, "Don't worry, we'll have you fixed up in just a second! What do you think you have? Common cold?"

Wally swallowed through his fear, tried to stop himself from stuttering, "I, uh, I can't get colds. My body burns through illnesses before, um, they can actually affect me. I can't get sick at all."

"Is that so?" Dr. Peril asked mildly, eyes flicking up at Wally, a stare like a thousand sharp needles burrowing under Wally's skin. There was a deadly seriousness in his eyes, something dark and shadowed and more terrifying than Wally had ever seen before. He asked, "Have you ever gotten sick before? With the inhibitor collar on?"

Wally shook his head, mouth too dry from fear to even think about talking. Dr. Peril stared at him for a moment longer before turning to one of the guards, "Strap him down with the metal straps."

The guard moved over to do Dr. Peril's bidding and Wally had to fight the urge to resist. This was what he wanted. He wanted to be strapped down like this. It was the only way he could escape. Those thoughts still didn't dissipate the striking fear rushing down his back, memories of experiments where they'd needed to put him in those restraints. Wally swallowed down his fear and stayed still as the guard strapped him down.

Dr. Peril checked the straps personally before he took his own personal remote and turned off Wally's inhibitor collar. It would still act as a shock collar, but his powers were no longer inhibited.

Wally felt like he was a drowning man who finally been allowed air. He felt like a burning man whose fire had been blessedly put out. He felt free.

He had no chance to celebrate that fact, however. His entire plan was hinged on the timing in these critical moments. So, the second Dr. Peril turned away, Wally started speeding up the molecules in his arms and legs. He pushed them to go faster than he's ever pushed them before. Off to his side, Dr. Peril was talking about letting the cold work itself out while Wally's powers were fully activated. Wally wasn't listening. He just kept pushing himself to go faster. He needed to be able to do this. He _needed_ to do this.

As his wrists and ankles spend up, they started to heat up, giving off incredible amounts of energy. Luckily, the guard had only used the low-grade metal straps. She had thought that since Wally wasn't a strong type, there was no chance that he'd break out of the metal straps. She was wrong. He was going to melt through them. He could feel them getting unbelievably hot even at that second. The heat his hands were giving off didn't hurt the rest of him, but the metal scalded his skin, bringing tears to his eyes. He grit his teeth and kept going.

Dr. Peril didn't realize anything was wrong until the metal was red hot and Wally let out an involuntary gasp of pain. Dr. Peril frantically got out his remote and started shocking Wally. Wally cried out, another tear slipping down his cheek. The guard moved over to physically hold Wally down, but he made sure to vibrate his whole body, so she wasn't able to hold him without getting burned himself. Wally just focused on vibrating past the metal. He had to ignore the guard trying to strike him with objects. He had to ignore the burning electricity racing over his body and burning his neck. He had to ignore everything but his goal.

Finally, _finally_ , the metal melted, sloughing off his hands and feet, tracing burning lines of fire down his limbs. He screamed, but he didn't stop moving, didn't have the time. He raced around the room, knocking out (or maybe he killed them; he couldn't quite find it in him to care and that scared him, but he needed to keep going, couldn't stop, needed to save everyone) the scientists and guards in the room. He grabbed the control out of Dr. Peril's limp hand and moved quickly through the options (he didn't have to look long; he'd already seen the control when he was older and escaping with Cameron ready to fight on the other side of the camp).

He found the one he wanted, and he zipped through the camp, finding the main power source of the camp. He moved quickly, working through the wiring the way he'd been taught by one of the guys who wouldn't come to the camps for another several years. He hooked the remote up to the main power grid of the whole camp and then, finally, blessedly, he turned off all of the inhibitor collars in the entire camp. They were free. They were free!

Wally raced out of the room, heading towards the dining hall where all of the metahumans should still be. He burst in, flying around the room, rage and grief and fear pushing him to him limits and then past. He knocked out the guards, knocking the remotes away from them. He stopped at the front of the room, heaving, barely staying on his feet. The metahumans were staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.

Wally called out to them, "The inhibitor collars are deactivated! We can still be shocked, but our powers are no longer blocked! We need to escape!"

This wouldn't be like last time. When he was older and the security was tighter and he hadn't gotten the cuffs off until breakfast was already over, he couldn't rescue everyone. In the end, he'd only been able to rescue eight others. Garfield had been in the same lab as him that day. The other had all been working on the same builder project as Cameron. He hadn't had the time to go back and get the others. He hadn't had the time to even tell them that their powers were working again. He'd failed so many of them. It wasn't going to be like that this time. He was going to get _all of them_ out.

Cameron was the first to move. He got up and ran towards Wally, fear obviously shining in his eyes, but bravery evident in every step he took. He stood next to Wally, the two of them just little kids, not even in the double digits for age. Almost as one, the rest of the metas stood up.

Nodding to them, breathing hard, Wally _ran_. He led the charge out of the dining hall, led the charge into the waiting arms of the guards. There were _tons_ of them there, more than Wally even knew worked at the camp. But that was okay. Because they didn't have powers. They weren't fighting to _survive_ , to _escape_ , to be free. They weren't fighting with the same desperation as Wally and the others were. They couldn't win.

Wally hadn't been counting on the massive gun in the back.

He hadn't been counting on the way it launched enough bullets to take out every metahuman ten times over. He hadn't been counting on the fact that the bullets were specifically targeted to metahuman DNA. He hadn't been counting on how fast the bullets were, fast enough that even he couldn't evade all of them, that even he couldn't get them out of the air. He hadn't been counting on the bullets doing something that knocked out metas almost instantly, only those with the stronger healing factors holding on by the barest thread.

The last thing Wally thought before he fell into that deep, dark abyss was that this weapon hadn't existed in his memories.

He woke up the next morning.

He could immediately feel that the inhibitor collar had been activated again. He'd failed. He'd completely failed.

The woman who stood in front of him wasn't at all familiar. She was big and frightening, though. She wore a scowl and a sharp suit, voice just as devastatingly sharp, "You were the ringleader of the escape attempt, then. We are going to have to use you to send a message. Unfortunately, just killing you won't be enough. We need to _break_ you. I figure, you seem like the hero type. This is your punishment: for each guard that was killed during your riot, a metahuman will be killed. We will start with the metahumans in your barracks. Bring him." She turned and stalked away, leaving Wally to be dragged behind her, mind sluggish with whatever they shot him with and with the horror of the situation.

They'd already collected the metas from his barracks, with three or four from different barracks. Cameron was stood between Asher and Ben, entire body shaking, but his head held up high and determined. The others were just as cool and collected as he was, expressions fierce as they stood there, chained to the wall, up on a stage of some sort. Wally felt sick to his stomach.

The woman pushed Wally further, shoving him down on the ground directly in front of the stage. He was held on his knees, a guard on either side holding his shoulders to make sure that he stayed there. The other metahumans of the camp were gathered behind him, shifting and silent. Broken.

Wally looked back up at the stage. Cameron was staring straight at him. The two locked eyes and Wally couldn't look away. There were tears gathering in Cameron's eyes, but they wouldn't fall.

The woman turned to the side and nodded to a group of guards. They moved in front of Wally, carrying huge guns. Luckily, they didn't block his view of Cameron. As the guards set up their guns, Cameron's voice carried over the near-silence of the courtyard, "Wally. You are my brother. You save me. You _saved me_."

Wally couldn't help the tears that spilled over, racing down his cheeks and making him weep harder. He never lost eye contact with Cameron. Asher smiled down at them, "You saved all of us."

Ben spoke for the first time since Nick died, "You save me."

"And me," Buddy said.

"And me," one of the men from the other barracks said.

The crowd started murmuring behind him, all the same thing. They were all thanking Wally for saving them, for trying to help him escape. They were all rallying behind him. He didn't understand it. He didn't understand! He had _failed_! Because of him, there were almost twenty metahumans dying today. Because of him, no one escaped from the camp and, likely, no one ever would. Because of him, everything was ruined.

The woman didn't do anything to stop the growing noise, did nothing to stop the people on the stage from saying their thanks. All she did was give one more sharp nod. But that was all it took.

The guards fired.

Bullets flew from the gun, endless bullets.

Red splattered out like a crimson monster blooming from the dead bodies of his friends, his _family_.

The metahumans fell limp in their bonds and the ones behind Wally fell silent.

The whole world fell silent.

And Wally… he broke.

 **Author's Note: Haha… haha… that ending wasn't too bad, right? They know how to save Wally, that's exciting, right? Haha, anyways, thanks for reading, please don't kill me!**


	30. Chapter 30

**Author's Note: Haha, great ending last chapter, am I right? Haha, anyways, here's the next chapter. Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **ALSO! IMPORTANT! DO NOT GIVE YJ S3 SPOILERS! I HAVE NOT SEEN IT AND WILL NOT BE PLEASED BY SPOILERS, NO MATTER HOW GOOD THEY MIGHT BE!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – Haha, a lot of people felt the same way :P Thank you for the super sweet review!**

 **Anett – Yeah, that was a pretty rude ending :P Thanks for the review!**

KKKKKK

Kaldur swallowed nervously, watching the rest of his team do the same around him. This was unchartered territory, something that none of them had been able to predict when the Team had joined with the Circus weeks ago. None of them thought they were going to be travelling through Wally's memories, with only Icicle to guide them. The rest of the Circus members and the Team members who were staying behind were throwing themselves into planning. They were hoping to have pulled something together to save Changeling by the time Wally was woken up.

M'gann's voice pulled Kaldur out of his contemplations, "Are we ready?"

Icicle grimaced, "I'm not sure I'll ever be ready to dive into the psyche of my fearless leader." It was a weak attempt at a joke, made weaker by the fiercely loyal (fiercely scared) expression on his face, but it was something. It was more than he had been managing since Wally fell into the mind trap.

Artemis nodded sharply, taking in a deep breath. Robin gave them a small, tight grin, "As I'll ever be."

Connor blinked, "Yes."

Finally, Kaldur blew out his breath and gave M'gann an encouraging smile, "Yes, we are ready."

"Alright," M'gann said, reaching her hands out on either side of her, "Gather in a circle and hold each other's hands. We will fall unconscious during the process and our hands are allowed to stop touching at that point, but until we fully enter the correct moment in his mind, we must remain touching. Everyone, close your eyes. We are entering his consciousness now."

Kaldur closed his eyes, feeling the energy of the room change around him.

Suddenly, abruptly, his eyes were forced open and he gasped, blinking into a wide white room. All around him were television sets, each playing different events. Wally featured in each one, dressed in different outfits and portraying different ages. Connor walked closer to one of them, peering down at what looked like a three-year-old Wally, "What do we do now?"

M'gann touched a hand to her forehead and said, "Now, Icicle will lead us to the correct moment."

"What do I have to do?" Icicle asked nervously, expression tight. His eyes softened when he saw an image of a five-year-old Wally colouring in a Superman drawing, a woman ruffling his hair as he coloured.

M'gann reached out and touched Icicle's forehead, "Just think of Supersonic, of his presence. I will be able to lead us from there."

Icicle close his eyes, the rest of them gathering in a loose circle around Icicle and M'gann, waiting for the next step. M'gann's eyes glowed green and then, suddenly, there was a smoky green trail emanating from Icicle. M'gann stepped back and allowed the green smoke to spread out. It trickled over to one of the television screens, this one showing a drab looking place, barbed wire and armed guards reminiscent of a prison.

Artemis shook her head, "What is this?"

Icicle's voice was tight and, well, _cold_ when he answered, "That's the camp we were at. Based on the layout showing there… I'd guess this is about a year and a half after Supersonic and I were put in the camps?"

"You can tell that?" Connor asked, eyebrows raised incredulously.

Giving them a bitter smile, Icicle answered, "Well, I helped build a lot of it, so I'd hope I could tell what year it was based on the buildings that are there."

"They have you build the buildings?" Artemis asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah," Icicle answered, short and clipped, "Which is entirely irrelevant to the situation at hand. How do we get through? How do we get to Supersonic?"

M'gann blinked, "Right! All we should have to do is step through it."

"Do we have a plan for what we're going to do when we get in there?" Robin asked, shifting his utility belt slightly.

"That is a good question," Kaldur said, turning to Icicle, "Icicle should tell us what we are to do once we enter the camp premises. He knows the camp better than we do."

Icicle shrugged, "You can't just sneak in. The place is _way_ too well guarded and pretty much every little spot of it is covered in cameras. Sneaking in _or_ out is practically impossible. This is probably about five and a half years ago, so no one's going to believe that you guys are just heroes who want to inspect the camp because no one's going to recognize your names so far back. The only way I could think of getting in would be to pretend you're metahumans and get assigned in there. I mean, it'll still be difficult to get to Supersonic once we're in there. Hopefully we can be placed in the same barracks as him, but we'll see."

"What about our masks?" Robin asked tightly, "I can't see them letting us keep our masks."

Icicle's jaw tightened, "As far as I'm concerned, keeping my identity a secret is not worth letting Supersonic get stuck in this place. I understand you don't have the same connection with him as I do, so you could just wait here. Or you can come up with a different plan. This is all that I've got."

Artemis and Robin, the only two who really had identities to protect, glanced to each other, indecision warring across their expressions. Icicle was practically vibrating with nervous, anxious energy, but he didn't say anything to disturb the moment. Finally, resolutely, Artemis reached up to her mask and pulled it over her head. She nodded to Icicle who gave her a nod back, thankfully and relieved, expression softening for the first time since Wally had slipped into the mind trap.

Robin stood undecided for a long moment. He glanced between the screens and the gathered group of heroes. Kaldur could sense the indecision, the fear. Dick was a very public person. Everyone would be able to recognize him on sight. He hadn't even trusted his teammates with this. How could he now do this and trust Icicle with this secret?

In the end, however, Robin was a hero. He was a hero who would always put his teammates first. He swallowed harshly before warning them, "You can't tell anyone who I am."

Icicle closed his eyes, looking like he was reaching for rapidly receding patience, "Then just don't tell us your name."

"It's not that simple," Robin muttered, right before he took off his mask.

The girls gasped, both throwing their hands to their face, eyes widening. Even Connor let out a grunt of surprise. Icicle, however, had a different reaction, "See? No harm, no foul. If you don't tell us your name, we can't tell anyone who you are."

Dick blinked at Icicle, "Uh, you don't recognize me?"

Icicle gave him a blank stare, "Last year, I spent the whole time trying to help Supersonic run a new underground metahuman group. The _six_ years before that, I was in the camps. And we don't really learn anything about the outside world. Where on _earth_ would I recognize you from?"

Dick blinked at him again, "That, uh… that makes sense I guess."

Sighing, Icicle closed his eyes slightly, "Whatever. Can we go save Wally now?"

The group came back together, Artemis and M'gann still sending slightly shocked glances over to where Dick was standing. As one, they all stepped through the screen.

When Kaldur could once again open his eyes, he found himself standing in front of a tall, imposing brick wall, thick loops of barbed wire wrapped around the top. There was an outpost directly in front of the wall and the guards that had been in it stepped out, guns aimed at the group standing in front of them.

Icicle stepped forward, arms up and expression earnest, "We came here to turn ourselves in! We, we went to the same orphanage and, um, all of our powers came in at the same time. We were so scared, we didn't know what else to do!" He sounded so young and earnest that even Kaldur found himself convinced. Was this how Icicle had been brought to the camps? Had he turned himself in?

The guards didn't relax any, but some started moving forward. With guns still trained on each of them, the guards wrenched their arms behind their backs, wrapping cuffs around their wrists and pushing them forwards into the camp.

Beside Kaldur, Artemis yelped, "Hey! What are you doing?"

Icicle was resigned, head automatically lowered so as to not look the guards in the eyes. He accepted the rough treatment of the guards and allowed them to manhandle him into position. Kaldur had a sick feeling that Icicle had known that this would be the reaction, that the situation in the camps was just as bad as the metahumans alluded it to be.

Kaldur and the others were pushed into a building, shoved and tripped as they tried to walk forward with their hands chained behind their backs. Kaldur heard the guards talking behind him, "Where are we going to put them?"

"Don't know. We're pretty much at capacity."

"Barracks 3's got a ton of room now."

"I thought the higher-ups wanted that place to stay empty, for the meta to learn it's lesson."

"What else are we supposed to do? We just got a new shipment last night. Every single space is filled other than Barracks 3."

"Are we going to put the girls in there with them? Aren't we not allowed to have co-ed barracks?"

"Again, what else do they expect us to do? All of our buses are out, so we can't send any of 'em to different camps. We're just going to have to hold 'em all in the same barracks until some of the buses get back tomorrow."

"What about-,"

Kaldur didn't get to hear the rest because he was unceremoniously shoved into a room, separated from the rest of his team. There was another guard and a man with a lab coat watching him dispassionately. The man asked monotonously, "What are your abilities?"

Swallowing, Kaldur glanced at the man behind him. He sent out through the mental link, _Am I supposed to just tell this man what my abilities are?_

 _Yeah, just tell him. He'll program the inhibitor collar based on whatever you say. Obviously, Miss Martian should not say her mental abilities because we really don't want those cancelled out right now. I'd just say shape shifting or something like that. Robin and Artemis should say enhanced strength or something like that. I mean, you guys are definitely stronger than the average human_ , Icicle answered back instantly.

Kaldur told the scientist that he could develop lightning on his tattoos as Robin asked incredulously, _They just ask you what your powers are and you just answer?_

 _I mean, that's how it was when I got here. I don't know what they do if you don't tell them what your powers are or whatever. I don't know if they have a lie detector or something like that. I just know that I was a scared eight-year-old and didn't want them to hurt me if I didn't tell them the truth. Plus, it was pretty easy to tell what my powers were_ , Icicle responded, sounding tired and subdued.

Kaldur was held in position by the guard behind him as the one who had been standing by the scientist wrapped the inhibitor collar around his neck. It chaffed from the moment it was put on his neck. His hands twitched against the restraints, wanting to reach up and rub at his neck. The scientist told him dispassionately, "You're going to be a worker."

He was led back out into the main hallway, shoved further down it, the others experiencing similar treatment ahead of him. They were separated once more, the girls getting shoved into one room and the guys being shoved into another one, their shackles being momentarily released. The guards that came in with them gestured to the stacks of clothes, "You have three minutes to get undressed, get the clothes you need, and get dressed. I've been told that you're all going to be workers, so get the clothes from over there. Grab a set of sleep clothes too."

Kaldur quickly moved over to the stacks of clothes, trying to shift through them as quickly as he could. The clothes were completely unorganized, underwear mixed in with shirts mixed in with pants mixed in with sleep clothes. There was no rhyme or reason to what sizes were where. Kaldur couldn't see how anyone would be able to grab the correct clothes.

He glanced to the side, seeing Connor and Dick just as panicked as he was, sorting through the clothes with increasing stress. Icicle was the only one who looked calm, easily grabbing pretty much the first thing he found, stripping out of his clothes and pulling the too large underwear on, knotting a corner of it to keep it up. He did the same with the pants he grabbed. His shirt was a little too small, but he stretched it on, ripping the edges just a little bit to give him some room to move. The guards never even left the room as Icicle stripped down and put new clothes on.

Icicle noticed him looking and raised an eyebrow, _We're only going to be here for as long as it takes to convince Supersonic. You can wear the wrong-sized clothes for that little bit of time._

Kaldur flushed slightly, embarrassed to have not come to that simple conclusion. He nodded to Icicle and picked out the first clothes he saw. They were all too large on him and he shifted uncomfortably in them. At least he was better off than Dick, who was practically swimming in his clothes, and Connor, who hadn't gotten a chance to grab night clothes before they were forced out the door.

When they met with the others in the hallway, Artemis sent them an irritated look, _These clothes are so itchy!_

Icicle glanced over at her, _Huh, you must have gotten one of the old uniforms. They recycle them, so you must have gotten one of the first sets. Those are definitely the worst ones._

 _Lucky me_ , Artemis muttered back. The grumble didn't have its usual venom, though. There was a cautious, scared watchfulness in her eyes, in the way her back was tensed whenever a guard was behind her. Kaldur felt his heart thump painfully in his chest at the sight. Artemis had once been one of the staunchest supporters of the usefulness of the camps. Now, here she was, in the camp and scared for her life. If even she could see the horror of this situation, the abusive and inhumane treatment that they were going through, then there must truly be something horribly wrong in the camps.

They were marched out of the building towards a group of small buildings. Icicle identified them as the barracks. He said that they were heading towards the earlier barracks, meaning that they must have openings in the older buildings.

The group stopped in front of one of the barracks. It had a huge number 3 on the side, painted a garish red. Icicle's eyebrow raised, _That's convenient. This is the barracks that Wally and I live, uh, lived in. I guess they'll drop us guys off and then move you girls into barracks 2 since that's the only girl's barracks further away from here._

 _I heard the guards speaking earlier. They said that they would put all of us in Barrack 3 because there is no room in the other barracks and no buses to send any of us to other places_ , Kaldur told them.

 _Either way_ , Connor said, _Why are we just standing out here?_

Dick nodded his head towards the entrance of the barracks where two guards were standing, guns held at the ready in their hands, _My guess is that they've got something important going on in there_.

Icicle frowned, _There's nothing that should be happening. I don't have memory of anything like this. If someone important comes, they never visit the barracks. They'll visit the build sites or the labs. Never the barracks._

The group sent each other worried looks but weren't able to say anything further because the door opened suddenly, emitting a jolly looking man in a lab coat. Kaldur felt Icicle stiffen next to him.

The man paused when he saw them, before smiling and letting out a little sigh, "No new ones for the labs? That's a shame. We lost a couple that day. And my speedster is still recovering from his punishment, so I can't even do his normal experiments. It's really quite unfortunate. Hm?" He walked closer, leaning up towards Icicle, "Well, well, well. That's interesting. You look quite a bit like one of the other metahumans here… You wouldn't happen to have a brother that went here, did you?"

Icicle had shrunk back as the man approached, eyes firmly glued to the ground and throat working around the inhibitor collar. He stuttered out, "I, uh, um. I don't… don't know. Sir. Sorry."

The man shrugged a little bit before patting Icicle on the head, ignoring Icicle's flinch, "That's quite alright! It's probably just me seeing things! The lad I'm thinking of was a worker, so I didn't see him that much anyways. Where are these fine guys and girls going off to?"

The guards had disgusted looks on their face, some of them even going so far as to roll their eyes. One of them eventually responded, "We're putting them in this barrack. There isn't any room anywhere else. We'll ship them off tomorrow when the buses get here."

"Oh?" the scientist asked, his eyes glittering, "I thought that the instructions were that no one would be placed in this barrack?"

"It's just for a day. Relax. We need to put them somewhere," one of the guards grunted. He pushed M'gann forward and sent a glare back at the scientist, "Oh, and also? Don't question us again. I know you're some hotshot brought here directly by the heads of the Collection Agency, but we've been here for a little over a year and a half. You've been here for what? A month or two? Get over yourself, Dr. Peril."

The scientist's jovial expression had melted, leaving only cold steel in its place. His eyes were dark and hard. The guard and the scientist faced off for a moment, the only movement being the nervous shifting of the other guards in the area. Kaldur didn't dare breath lest he set something off.

But then, abruptly, the scientist smiled again, "Quite right. You don't tell me how to do my job, I shouldn't tell you how to do yours! Carry on!" And then he was gone, lab coat swirling behind him, swishing lightly as he walked away.

Icicle sent over their mental link, _The scientists and the guards always fight. Both of them seem to think they're the most integral part of the camp and they just get into fights about it. Normally it's fine, but sometimes they bring us into the fights and then it just gets ugly for us._

 _That scientist was pretty friendly, though. At least, he didn't act like we were pieces of furniture being lugged around_ , Artemis commented, a frown tugging at her lips.

 _That scientist shouldn't exist. In the six years I was here, there was never a Dr. Peril. He must be part of the mind trap. I don't know why, but he is_ , Icicle sent to them as the guards spoke quietly the guards outside Barrack 3.

Robin sent back tentatively, _There's no way you just hadn't heard of him?_

 _All of us talk about the scientists and the guards. There's not a single one that I didn't know the name of by the time I got out of here. Especially since they've got their names on their shirts or lab coats or whatever. It makes it easy to learn names. Plus, those of us who'd been here for a while, we made sure to learn the names and faces so we could warn newer metas of which ones were the worst. Who to stay out of the way of and all that_ , Icicle answered.

They were finally allowed to go inside, the guards pushing them again. Kaldur felt his temper momentarily flare, sick of being shoved around. He was going where the guards wanted him to go, he didn't need them pushing him! Artemis looked like she was having the same problems, her expression tight, _I hate having to let them push me around like this! How do you guys let them do this?_

 _Let them?_ Icicle asked sharply, _We didn't_ let _them do anything. We were scared of our powers, of them. You have to know that these inhibitor collars second as shock_ _collars_.

 _They what?_ Artemis yelped, almost tripping over the slightly raised door frame.

Icicle rolled his eyes, _Typical. Yeah, they're shock collars. Misbehave and you're electrocuted. It's as simple as that. None of your scientists demonstrated that for you?_

 _Mine did_ , Connor said, reaching a hand up to his neck slightly. Kaldur glanced at him in concern, but it didn't seem like he was in too much pain. Artemis winced and clenched her fists silently.

The guards shoved them into bed blocks, almost sending Kaldur crashing into the hard concrete of the beds. His lips curled in disgust when he saw that the "beds" were literally just slabs of concrete covered by a blanket with another threadbare blanket folded at the bottom of the bed.

He, Connor, Dick, and Icicle were all put in the same bed block, towards the back of the room, but not quite there. Artemis and M'gann were put in one closer to the front of the room. The guards glared at them, then barked out, "You're allowed to talk, but don't get too loud! If we can hear you from outside, then you are being too loud, and you _will_ be punished! You will do everything we tell you to. When the alarm sounds in the morning, you will get up, get dressed, and be waiting in a straight line in ten minutes!" And that was it. The guards swept out of the room, disgust angling around their features.

Artemis whispered to them, "How loud is too loud?"

Icicle answered in a voice that was just slightly louder than Artemis's, "With just us, this is a good volume. Although… why is it just us? At this time, Barrack 3 should be almost full. I think Nick was gone by now and there were only three or so more open beds… And where's Supersonic? Didn't Dr. Peril mention that he was seeing Supersonic in here?"

The others looked up, looking around them. There was no one in the barrack, despite it being dark outside. Icicle crept forward, heading towards a specific bed block. He got there and saw something that made his eyebrows furrowed. He waved the others in before leaping up onto the top bunk on the left-hand side. Kaldur and the others sidled into the bed block, cramming themselves onto the top bunk on the right-hand side. Connor remained standing on the ground, able to see the top bunk from where he was.

Kaldur felt his heart break at the sight in front of him.

There was someone who was undoubtedly Wally, the shock of bright red hair giving him away. He was just a kid, though, probably around nine-years-old or something to that effect. He was huddled into the back of the bed, blanket pulled around his shoulders. His fingers, peaking over the edge of the blanket, were thin and bony, barely even skin covering them. His face was just as wan and thin, cheeks hollowed, and lips cracked. His expression was despondent, no hint of recognition in his cold, sad eyes, no sign of relief at their appearance.

Artemis murmured uncomfortably, "Are we to late?"

"No," Icicle said, expression fierce, "No." He settled himself more firmly on the bed, eyes locked on Wally's. Wally was looking straight back at him, but not saying anything. Icicle shook his head, "I know you know who I am. I know you know who all of us are."

Wally didn't respond. Icicle's shoulders drooped and he sighed, "C'mon. You can't seriously think I'd leave you here, could you? You're my best friend. You got me out the first time, now I'm going to get you out. You _have_ to know who I am."

"Yeah," Wally said, voice rusted and rough. Kaldur just then noticed the electrical burns running along the edges of the inhibitor collar. He wondered how many times he'd been shocked. Wally continued, "You're hallucinations."

Icicle's shoulders slumped even further before they suddenly came back up, determination burning in his face, "Why do you say that?"

"Because the memories aren't true," Wally answered, still not breaking eye contact with Icicle, "The memories were just lies. Maybe you were right. Maybe I had a psychotic break when I imagined escaping and actually _working with_ heroes and meeting my aunt and uncle again. Maybe this is just one break further. I don't know. I don't care."

Icicle reached out a hand and clasped Wally's tiny shoulder in it. He swallowed, licking his lips before asking, "Why do you think the memories are a lie? Because they're not."

"Because none of this happened in the memories. Dr. Peril wasn't there in the memories. The gun wasn't there in the memories. I didn't _screw up_ so bad in the memories," Wally said, fingers clutching tightly against the blankets. His knuckles were turning white and Kaldur couldn't help but be worried about how much strain those thin little knuckles could handle. It was hard to reconcile this pale, ghost of a boy with the metahuman leader Kaldur had become accustomed to. From what Kaldur had seen so far, it was a miracle that Wally had seemed as well-adjusted as he was.

Shaking his head, Icicle grabbed one of Wally's hands, gripping it in his own and pulling it out slightly from the blankets. He ignored the bandages spiralling out over Wally's hands, ignored the flinches the others gave at the scars running up and down Wally's arms, "What gun? What screw-up?"

Wally watched him carefully for a moment, eyes momentarily flitting over the rest of them, "The gun with meta-sensing bullets. It wasn't in the memories when I tried to escape. But this time… when I tried to escape… they had that gun. None of us were able to get out. And then they killed everyone in here. I watched them kill you, Cam. You were thanking me when they shot you."

Icicle (Cam?) flinched slightly, eyes wide, "I… what? What are you saying?"

"You remember, back on that bus that brought us here? The guards told us that if we ever tried to escape, we'd get a punishment worse than death? And, like, we were all pretty sure they'd just kill us. They killed that one guy right away when we got off the bus because he tried to escape. But, since I was the ringleader, they said they needed to make an example out of me. They said they were going to kill one metahuman for every guard or scientist killed in the attack. They started with the ones from this barrack and grabbed a couple from other barracks too. They lined you all up in the square and they made us all watch. And we just made sure that we were looking at each other, that I was the last thing you saw. And then they shot all of you. They made me and a few others clean it up. The guards took your bodies and gave them to the scientists for more testing, but we had to clean up the blood," Wally answered, talking in one long burst after so many short answers.

Icicle closed his eyes, bowing his head and pulling Wally to him. M'gann was opening crying, Artemis's hands held over her mouth. Connor's fists were clenched with rage and even Dick was shaking in anger. Kaldur couldn't decide what to feel, wasn't sure that he could feel anything but horror at the situation being described to him.

Still holding Wally tightly against him, Icicle spoke quietly, "This is a mind trap. Psimon put you in a mind trap. You _saved me_ when it really mattered. You were the one who took all the risks. You played the scientists and you burned your wrists and ankles so badly when you escaped that you had to keep them wrapped for almost a week, despite your healing factor. You rescued me and the others. We're still alive because of you, okay? This is all in your head. Dr. Peril? That weapon? My… my _death_ was all parts of the mind trap trying to convince you that you never escaped. But you did."

"I let Nick die," Wally said.

Icicle held Wally just a little bit tighter, "You didn't let Nick die. No one knows what experiment was done on him that day. We didn't realize that he wasn't alright until we woke up in the morning and he was dead. There were no signs. Yeah, he went to bed a little early, but you experiments always did have days where you wanted to go to bed earlier than usual just because the tests were bad. It wasn't your fault that he died."

"This time it was!" Wally argued, somehow keeping his voice quiet, but passionate, "This time it was my fault! I _knew_ that he was going to die. I could have… I could have stopped it. I didn't believe in my memories and then Nick ended up dead. I had an escape plan in my memories, but… it didn't work. I don't know what's true and what's not! It doesn't make sense!" Wally had pulled back a little by that point, fists clenching his hair and eyes squeezed shut, "Why are you here? What do you want from me?"

Kaldur was the one who answered, "We want to take you back with us. As Icicle said, you are in a mind trap. We want to bring you back to consciousness, out of the past. Everything that you remember is real."

Wally shook his head, "I don't believe you. I don't believe you!"

Artemis hesitated for a moment before she jumped off the bed, crawling up towards the one Wally was in. She glanced to Icicle first before moving over to grab Wally's hands, projecting her movements carefully, "C'mon, Supersonic. You know me. You know I would never just tell you what you want to hear. You got out of this place. You saved your team. You somehow created an alliance between the heroes and the metahumans. You are working your butt off to stop the Light and you're doing a great job of it. You got _out_."

Wally looked up at her, eyes big and green and scared and so, so broken in his pale, hollowed face. He glanced over the rest of the group, eyes catching on the earnest expressions on everyone's faces. He shook his head again, but it was softer, more confused, "If this was a mind trap, how are you here? _Why_ are you here?"

Icicle let out a soft breath, "You really think I'd leave my fearless leader, my _best friend_ here all by himself? Who do you take me for? As to how, Miss Martian led us in here. She brought us here and she can take us all out once you're ready."

"What about the others?" Wally asked.

Dick shook his head, "Others?"

Wally didn't look at him, keeping his eyes focused on Icicle, "I can't leave them here again. I had to leave so many people behind when we escaped camp. I failed them just the other day, too. I can't leave them behind again. They don't deserve to be stuck here while I get out _again_."

Icicle's expression crumpled, a soft sob coming out before he squashed any further sounds. He took a second to blink back tears before answering, "None of this is real, okay? You can't get them out this way. They aren't real. The real ones are back in the camp in the real world. And we'll get them out someday. Just… we just can't today. And, you can't blame yourself. You got out so many of us, more than any other camp break in history. At least, until you got all those kids out on the day the world split. You've led the two most successful breakouts in the history of the camps. You've done more than anyone else. You've tried. You've done your best. No one who is still in the camps blames you, alright? No one. It's not your fault."

Wally turned his big, sad eyes onto M'gann, "You can really get me out of here? I can really leave?"

"Yes," M'gann breathed out, tears still falling, "Yes, of course. We're going to get you out of here. We're – we're going to get you out."

Once more, Wally let his gaze fall on each person. Kaldur had to hold back a shudder (a sob, a flinch, a heartbroken sigh) when Wally's broken gaze landed on him. How Wally managed to escape this place with any hint of his sanity in check was beyond Kaldur. How any of them managed to be sane when they escaped was beyond him.

Wally swallowed, gripped Artemis's hands where they still held his, and leaned further into Icicle. He whispered, "Please take me home."

 **Author's Note: I struggled hardcore with this chapter, like, wow. I actually wrote 8 pages and then was like, nah and deleted 6 of them. This chapter was yikes. I hope you like how it ended up! Thanks for reading!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Author's Note: Here we are with the next chapter! Oh, by the way, the idea for the moment after Wally wakes up is from Dossypet! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Anett – Thank you for a wonderful review! I'm glad you liked it all so much!**

WWWWWW

Wally almost didn't open his eyes. There had been an enormous flash of light, one that took over his entire vision, and then… nothing. The next thing he knew, he was smelling the antiseptic that the scientists always used.

Good to see he was right about one thing at least. They really had been hallucinations. Wally didn't know what happened when Miss Martian promised to bring him home, but it apparently ended with him back in the labs. Shocker. He didn't know why he even bothered to hope anymore.

So, he kept his eyes closed. What was the point of opening them to more disappointment? What the point of any of it anymore?

Then he heard a voice, "Hey, c'mon, man. We know you're awake. Open your eyes. C'mon, please. Please open your eyes. Open your eyes." It was Cameron. But not Wally's Cameron, not the one who died. It was the one from Wally's false memories, his breakdown. This was the Cameron who escaped.

Why would Wally have to hallucinate _that_ one? Why couldn't he have _his_ Cameron back? His Cameron didn't remind him of bad things that never were. His Cameron had been real. This one was just a false cover for a better life that he could never achieve.

The voice persisted, "Oh fearless leader. Eyes open! Don't make me ice you. You know I will, even though I've got to do extra since you're so warm. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon." The voice was starting to get kind of annoying. Wally didn't want to wake up. He didn't want to acknowledge reality anymore. Reality sucked.

A new voice started talking and Wally almost jerked in surprise. Batman said firmly, "They got you out of the mind trap. You are in the team's Med Bay. Open your eyes so the doctor can treat you."

No way. No _way_. Was he really out? Was he really free? Wally wrestled with the temptation. This could be the single brightest moment of his life, or the single worst. If he opened his eyes, convinced himself that maybe this was real, and then found out that it wasn't, that he was still stuck in that lab with Dr. Peril looming over him, there wouldn't be anything left for him. That would be it. But if he opened his eyes, convinced himself that maybe this was real, and it turned out that it was real? It would be like escaping for the first time. It would be like finally being set free. For once in his life, something would go right. Was the risk worth the possible reward?

There was a long pause where the room was silent. Wally wasn't sure how many more people were in the room, or if there was even anyone in the room, but no one was speaking either way. He took a steeling breath, filled his lungs with air that felt unrestricted – no inhibitor collar. That was… that must mean that this was all true? Didn't it? Or could it be… or…

Wally inwardly shook his head, steeling himself all over again. He was going to do it. He was going to open his eyes. It didn't matter what the outcome was. It wouldn't matter either way. He was going to open his eyes.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Wally peeled open his eyes, blinking up at the expanse of white ceiling above him. He lifted his head a little bit and peered around the room.

It… it wasn't the camp.

It was the Med Bay at headquarters.

Wally could feel tears building, could feel his hands shaking under the sheets (he was in a hospital gown, but his cowl was still covering his face). He looked from face to face to face. There were a lot of people there. His team was standing in one corner, afraid and hopeful and sad and overjoyed (and missing Garfield… _where was Garfield_?). The Team was standing in front of his bed, Green Arrow and Green Lantern making a small bridge between the two areas, Hal's arm slung around Harold's shoulder and Oliver just leaning into Dinah's space. Leslie was bustling around him, checking over wires and machines, pressing buttons and peering at charts.

And then… and then there was Cameron.

Cameron, who was alive and watching him with careful, scared eyes. Their eyes met and Wally felt the whole world freeze. Cameron was _alive_. He was there. Wally reached out a hand, wincing at the slightly sore, stretched feeling of underused muscles (how long was he out? How long had he spent in a coma, leaving his team to fend for themselves?), but didn't stop moving. His fingers brushed the underside of Cameron's chin, two fingers pressing against the junction between his neck and jaw. There was a pulse there, beating steady and strong and cold against his fingers. Cameron was alive. He was alive, alive, _alive_.

Wally broke down.

He cried like he hadn't cried since a week into his time in the camps, when he realized that this really was going to be his life, that this was his forever, that he was a useless monster like the scientists and guards always told him.

This was a much cleaner sobbing, a purer one. He was _happy_ , crying because it was over, crying because he was free, crying because Cameron and the others were proof that he'd accomplished at least a little bit in his life. He was crying because this could actually work, because people were willing to go into his mind to save him, because he never had to be put in one of those camps again. He sobbed his heart out, pressed up against Cameron's side, Jinx's scared, shaking hand clasping his, Kelvin laying both of his large hands against the sides of Wally's head. Dinah gripped his ankle, kneeling on the ground with her head bowed over his shin, Oliver's hand tightly gripped in her other hand. Harold and Hal had commandeered his other leg, Harold pillowing his head on the hospital bed next to Wally's leg, Hal's hands on his shoulder, keeping him steady. The Team was hovering just behind the Circus, expressions saying that they wanted to get in on the cuddle session, but were uncomfortable with the crying, with the intensely personal moment.

It took Wally a long time to calm down, probably too long, but that was okay. Wally figured he deserved it, figured it was okay to let his hair down like this every once in a while.

When he finally calmed down though, he did feel kind of awkward. He flushed under the attention of the whole room, cracking his knuckles and subtly shifting his limbs to try to work some of the tension out of them.

Wally cleared his throat, voice raspy and tight with disuse, thick from crying, "How long was I out?"

Dinah patted his ankle softly, expression relaxing, lips turning up slightly, "You've been asleep for about four days, Supersonic."

"Four _days_?" Wally asked, coughing when he spoke a little too loud, "Jeez."

"Did time work differently in there?" Harold asked curiously.

Wally nodded, "Felt more like two or three weeks for me." Cameron physically flinched behind Wally and Wally tried not to flinch with him. It would have been a lot better if he'd just gone through four days. Maybe it was because of his enhanced cognitive abilities that he moved through more days in his mind than in his body. Whatever. It doesn't really matter.

Wally laid his head back on the pillow, trying to ignore the slightly pinched feeling around his eyes from the crying, "Okay. Okay, four days. What'd I miss? Is Changeling out on a mission? Did we learn anything?"

The reactions to his questions were not the kind he wanted to see. A lot of the team members dropped their heads, expressions growing solemn and dark. Cameron clenched his jaw and looked away. Wally sat up, letting out a little gasp as his muscles protested the movement. He started to swing his legs over the edge of the bed, pulling out wires as Leslie frantically scrambled over, trying to stop him. He asked the room at large, "What happened to Changeling? Someone give me details now. What's going on?"

It was Cameron, ever faithful, ever trusting (ever so _alive_ ) Cameron, that answered, "The Light took Changeling. The Light also knows the identity of the Alliance's fifteen spies. I have to assume that they've almost got ours as well. The Light has control over the African village and the Hackers. They probably did something to the drug community in Star City, too because there are no drug dealers' nests there."

"You can't be serious!" Artemis called out, moving over to block the door, looking at Wally wildly, "You just woke up! You can't be thinking about going out and fighting!"

Wally rolled his eyes under his cowl, "Look, you obviously made waking me up a priority. That means you wanted me to fight. So, I'm going to fight. I'm a speedster; I heal fast. Any troubles I'd have from not moving for four days are negligible. Besides, do we even have a plan yet? We've got to work on that first. I'll be fine."

He brushed past her, out into the hallway, angling towards his room so he could get a suit and get out of the hospital gown he was in. He knew that he was being rude, that he should have taken the time to talk to her, and he believed that he would have, given better circumstances. If Garfield wasn't with the Light at that moment, the spy moments away from being caught, he'd have dealt with the whole situation better. He would have sat down with the Team members and talked about everything they saw, everything they experienced. He would have made sure that they understood that their experience was the same experience that every metahuman had. This was Wally's greatest chance to help the heroes realize how bad the camps were. But he didn't have the time to capitalize on that fact. Not when Garfield was missing. Not when his team was being threatened. No one got between him and his team.

Once he felt like his limbs had been suitably loosened, he ran the rest of the way, speeding down the hallways (revelling in his speed the way he always did; his powers would never stop feeling like a breath of fresh air) and grabbing his suit. As he was changing, he asked over the comms, "What room are you guys going to?"

" _The main conference room_ ," Cameron answered instantly. The others were probably all there with him already.

Wally finished pulling his suit on. He took a moment and just looked at himself. Slowly, carefully, he took his cowl off, shoving it over his curls and letting it rest against his back. He looked at himself in the mirror, taking in the much older appearance. He was fifteen years old. He wasn't nine. He had a few scars on his face – a cut on his lip he'd gotten in his third year at the camps, a cut over his eyebrow that dipped dangerously close to his eye before cutting off that he'd gotten about a week after escaping the camp. Those weren't there in the mind trap. He'd been too young to have them. But he had them now. He was out. He was strong. He had saved Cameron and he had saved those kids. There was nothing he could have done to save Nick. Either times. There was nothing else he could have done for any of them.

Wally blew out a breath, leaning forward a little bit and resting his forehead on the cool smoothness of the mirror. He didn't have time to wallow in self-pity. He didn't have time to process. He needed to pull himself together and get out there and be a leader.

A knock on the door jolted Wally out of his thoughts. He whipped his cowl back into place and walked over to the door, pulling it open. It was Kaldur standing there, tense smile on his face, back straight as usual. Wally let his shoulders drop slightly, "Hey, Kaldur, what's up? I was just heading over to the conference room?"

"I just came to accompany you to the room," Kaldur paused for a moment before admitting, "Also, I wished to inform you that Artemis is not pleased with you at the moment."

Wally rolled his eyes, "Whatever. She can deal with it. She's not the one who was in a coma, she can calm down."

For a long time, Kaldur didn't say anything, just allowing the two of them to walk to their destination. Eventually, he spoke. "I believe she is just worried about your safety. We all are," Kaldur admitted softly.

Wally clenched his fists slightly before blowing out a little breath of air, "Look, Kaldur. I get that you saw the camps and all that and you saw how I was after a year or so in the camps. I get that. But that doesn't change anything. I'm not any less competent now that you know the tiniest fraction of what I went through. What all of us metahumans went through. So, back off and leave me alone! Just because you saw all that doesn't change a thing!"

Zatanna peeked out the door at them, eyes wide, "Uh, are you two ready?"

Scowling, Wally stalked into the room, answering forcefully, " _Yes_." Kaldur sighed behind him but didn't disagree.

"So, what's the plan?" Wally asked the moment he entered the room, forcefully avoiding Kaldur's gaze. Cameron raised his eyes at their behaviour before rolling them and looking back towards a screen towards the front of the room. Wally narrowed his eyes as he saw a collection of shadowy figures on the screen.

A voice called out to him, "Supersonic?! Is that you? _Supersonic_? Are you okay?"

Wally frantically threw his mind back to the introductions he'd been given by Uncle Barry before they recognized each other. What name had he gone under? Flash Lightning? Just Flash? Just Lightning? Wally didn't remember. Eventually, he just responded, "Yeah, it's me. I'm fine. I heard about your spies. I wish they hadn't been found."

He could hear a harsh, ragged breath come from Uncle Barry before he responded, voice thick, "Well, let's just make sure that your spy stays safe. And that we get Changeling back. Is there any information you can give us about either of those people?"

"No information about the spy until they're well and truly compromised," Wally answered immediately, voice hard.

Artemis threw her hands in the air, "Honestly! This isn't as simple as it was at the beginning of our alliance! I get why you wouldn't tell us now, but this spy is in _danger_! We need to get them out of there!"

"And _I_ told _you_ that we're not risking them until they are well and truly compromised, alright?" Wally said, aggravation lining his tone. Why couldn't they understand this? His spy was a member of his family, just like the rest of the team. He wasn't going to give them up for something like this! At the continued scowl on Artemis's face, Wally sighed, "Look, that's my _main_ reason for keeping the spy in there. Otherwise, there is a chance that they could help Changeling. Right now, I'm not hearing any sort of plan to get Changeling back, so my spy is our best chance. Besides, the spy is none of your business and you have _no_ control over what I do with them, got it?"

"I do, though," Kaldur said quietly.

Wally whirled on him, "Excuse you?"

Kaldur gazed at him solemnly, "As co-leaders of this merged team, we both have some measure of control over the members. I believe it is best for the entire team if the spy was to return back to these headquarters and pull back from their mission."

"And just leave Changeling there, alone?" Wally growled, shoulders shaking with frustration.

Voice measured, Kaldur responded, "We cannot know that the spy is even in the same location as Changeling. I am trying to protect this spy. Our spy."

"As someone who actually knows them, I can tell you that we don't need to pull the spy out," Wally said, trying to pull himself back together. He was letting his temper get the better of him. He was still overly emotional, his whole soul rubbed raw from that mind trap. He wasn't really in any sort of shape to be leading anyone right now, but he didn't really have a choice. He was sure about this decision, though. The spy needed to stay with the Light until the last possible moment. He knew that the Team didn't know a thing about the spy (by design, obviously), but they should trust Wally's judgement on his own team members.

Uncle Barry spoke hesitantly from the screen, "Look, we don't know who your spy is, so we don't know how good they are, but… we just lost fifteen members. Those are fifteen families that we're going to have to notify, that we're going to have to tell that their loved one is dead. I know that you and the rest of the Circus are as close as family, maybe closer. Do you want to have to tell the rest of the Circus that your spy is dead because you didn't pull them out when you could?"

"I'd rather say that then tell the spy that Changeling is dead because I pulled the spy out too early. I appreciate what you guys are all trying to do here, but this is my team member, my spy. I know what I'm doing with them. Please trust me. Please understand that I'm not underestimating or overestimating them. They're going to be alright," Wally answered, pulling the last tattered rags of his self-control around him. He needed to _calm down_.

Cameron finally spoke up, probably noticing Wally's state at the moment, "Supersonic's right. Our spy is going to be fine. We need to focus on a way to save someone who is in definite, immediate danger. We can revisit the spy issue later." The others huffed, but eventually agreed.

Robin rubbed a weary, tired hand over his face, "We're still no closer to finding out where Changeling would be held."

"Then we better start looking," Wally announced, eyes sharp. He was going to find Garfield, no matter what it took.

GGGGGG

Garfield shuddered in his cell. They'd taken his clothes, throwing him only a pair of boxers and some shorts. And the room was _not_ warm enough to just be wearing shorts. They hadn't appreciated it when Garfield had shouted that at the wall. He lightly brushed his fingers against the collar around his neck, remembering the shock.

Honestly, the Light was more aggressive with that shock collar than the camps ever had been. They had a lot of fun electrocuting poor, adorable, green teenagers. Garfield sighed despondently. He _hated_ having his powers locked. He knew that the vast majority of metahumans felt the same way – someone had once said it was basically the same as cutting off the dominant hand of a forger. Their powers were an inherent part of themselves, of their identity. And, yeah, there were those out there who hated their powers, who felt genuinely better when their powers were deactivated, but there were very few of those.

Garfield sometimes thought they were crazy, but then he'd think back to his time in the camps and he wouldn't think it was so crazy anymore. People with metahuman abilities _are_ dangerous. Garfield never disagreed with that fact. But they were only dangerous because no one let them train themselves. From the moment a metahuman's powers presented themselves, that metahuman was hunted. Some gave themselves up; they either thought that the camps were actually going to help or they thought that it was better to just give up then instead of dragging out the inevitable. Others fought their way out, tearing apart country sides to avoid getting into camps, trying to prove the hard, violent way that metahumans weren't any different from humans. Others still hid, went so deep into hiding that they were never seen again. Kind of like Wally's aunt and uncle. They'd gone so far into hiding that there was no chance that Wally would have ever seen them again if his uncle hadn't followed him that day.

And, Garfield understood hating his powers a little bit. He'd had problems with his own powers at some point, when he was still with the old man. He'd just gotten old enough to come to certain realizations about his powers. He had realized that if he'd just practiced a little bit more, he'd have been able to save his parents that day. He had realized that his powers had been used by those men to steal things. It hadn't been games like they'd said. They'd lied to him and he'd used his powers to get them into an argument that ended with both of them dead. His powers weren't just a cool gimmick like he'd thought for a while. They were dangerous. Deadly. He needed to be in full control.

But he was just a kid. It was hard to be in full control. He was pretty sure that Wally had a good understanding of those feelings. Well, Wally and Cameron. At least, they used to feel the same way Garfield did. Wally and Cameron were, like, the ultimate metahumans. At least, in Garfield's eyes. They had gone through so much and still came out totally on top. But, they'd told Garfield one night in the barracks that they hadn't always been like that. They'd told him how much they hated their powers when they were younger, how bitter they were that they were even given their powers.

Cameron was especially furious. His powers had activated because his criminal father used his ice gun too many times around the household, turning Cameron into something that the world hated, that the world imprisoned and tortured. Despite the fact that Cameron used the connections formed through his father's name to the Circus's advantage, he hated his father for what the man had done to him. Well, Garfield had also heard mentions of child abuse and a deep-seated fear of his own father from whispered conversations between Wally and Cameron, but he wasn't sure he had the whole story there.

Wally was just as upset, too. There were very few metahumans who asked for their powers, but Wally had been given his by another metahuman. He'd told them the story of Josh lighting up the sky in a storm he couldn't control, of the lightning that arced straight towards Wally, ignoring basic physics, of the cabinet of chemicals he crashed into. He never really talked about how horribly painful it was, how he felt like he was burning and melting and freezing and having his skin flayed off all at once. He didn't talk about the fear he felt and the way he could feel every spark racing through his veins in a fiery explosion of horror. Actually, he told Cameron about it and hadn't realized that Garfield was back from his own experiment already. Garfield probably hadn't been meant to overhear that, but still…

Cameron and Wally had hated their powers for a little bit. But they told Garfield that they'd grown to love their abilities. They said that after a certain amount of time in the camps, you had two options: you broke or you started waiting. If you broke, then there was no help for you. You would probably always hate your powers and you wouldn't even care what the scientists and guards did to you. If you started waiting, then you accepted your powers and you started to try to figure out ways to use them to get out. A lot of people were too exhausted, too beaten down, too uncreative, too scared to ever even think of an escape plan. Garfield certainly had been.

Anyways, all that to say that Garfield hated the feeling of an inhibitor collar, hated being restricted to just one animal. He was the entire jungle! The desert animals and the ocean creatures and the creatures of the air! He was everything and these people were stopping him from becoming what he wanted to become. They were stopping him from being him.

Garfield sighed again. Being kidnapped was so _boring_! He groaned softly, ears catching on the sounds of people walking around on the floor above him. This was the worst part of being kidnapped: the back and forth between intense, adrenaline filled moments of torture and long, boring, downer moments of waiting. You didn't want the waiting to end because that meant torture, but the waiting was its own unique form of torture. It sucked. Garfield was still bored.

At least, he was until a form came barrelling towards his door.

Garfield stood up and tried to get a good look at whoever was standing outside the door, but the person was wearing a large hood. They smashed at the buttons on the door, sending increasingly panicked glances behind them.

Finally, _finally_ , the door smashed open, the person grabbing Garfield's arm and dragging him along behind the stranger. They hadn't gotten any further than about halfway down the hallway before someone turned on Garfield's shock collar. He yelped before the sound was torn away by the pain, morphing into a broken howling as the pain increased much further than it had at any other point. Garfield hadn't even known the collars could get this painful.

He dropped straight to the floor, writhing there. All he knew was pain, bright, burning, shattering pain. It was painful and horrible and it hurt and Garfield couldn't help the brief thought that death would be better than this.

And then it was gone, ripped away along with the inhibitor collar around his neck. He looked over at it's shattered remains lying next to him on the ground. He blinked at them in confusion, trying to get his breath back, trying to blink away the pain.

He wasn't given a chance as the stranger gripped his arm and practically yanked it out of his socket, dragging him further down the hallway. It took Garfield a second before he finally found his feet, easily running alongside his rescuer. The two of them reached a larger hallway and Garfield shouted at the stranger, "Get on my back! When I need to turn, hit the side where I need to turn and if you need me to stop, hit me twice in the middle of the back!" Then, he morphed into a rhinoceros, skin rippling and changing until he was massive.

The stranger leapt onto his back and he trampled through the hallways, tossing his head and destroying everything in his path. The stranger led the two of them further and further through the compound until, _finally_ , they reached open air.

The stranger encouraged Garfield to keep going, but he didn't need any such encouragement. He wanted to get as far away from that place as he could. He wasn't going to let them capture him again. He _wasn't_. He'd go back and save the tribespeople, but he wasn't going to let the Light control him.

Eventually, they ran far enough that Garfield was starting to get tired, limbs growing weary and shaky, movements slowing. He pulled to a stop near a lone patch of trees in the desert area they were in. He wasn't sure if they were still in Africa or if they'd gone somewhere else. He had no clue where he was or how long it'd been or who he was even with.

Garfield shifted back into his human form and laid on the sand, panting. He shaded his eyes and squinted up at the stranger, "So, like, this might be rude, but who are you? I totally appreciate the save, but…"

The stranger laughed and Garfield sat up a little, startled by the familiarity. The stranger's voice was warm when they asked, "Have I really been gone long enough that you don't recognize your own spy?"

 **Author's Note: And there we have it! I hope you guys enjoyed this! Thanks for reading!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Author's Note: It's been another one of those weeks where it was so long that it felt like I haven't written for your guys for literal ages. Here's to hoping you had a better week than I did and that we all have an amazing next week! Read, review, and enjoy!**

KKKKKK

Kaldur scrubbed a hand across his face wearily. He was exhausted. It had been hours since they had woken Wally and they were still no closer to finding any useful information. The spy had never been to the main headquarters of the Light, instead being bounced around from location to location, gradually working their way up through the ranks. Their information had been exceptionally useful in the search in so far, but for this fast-paced, frantic search, the information was next to useless.

Sighing, Kaldur scrunched his eyes shut. He just needed to look at this from a different angle. There must be something they were missing. There must be _something_ that would help them find Changeling. He had been in enemy hands for too long.

The problem was, the Team was flagging. Their energy was worn down, partially due to the hours spent looking over this information, partially due to the revelations they had faced in their time in the camps. Kaldur closed his eyes as he thought of them.

The camps had been… they were likely to give him nightmares. He had been in the camps for just shy over an hour and it was already nightmare material. He could not imagine facing the six years that Wally and Icicle had alluded to having spent in that miserable place. The haunted expressions that the others wore told Kaldur that they felt the same. And how could they not? They had all been treated like wild animals, like beasts that were being tamed in the harshest possible manner. At some points, it had not even felt like they were valued that much. At some points, Kaldur would have been surprised if the guards could have picked them out from among a batch of furniture. He had been treated as if there was no life within him, as if he was just another test tube in a row of test tubes. There had been no thought to his comfort, no thought to his feelings, no thought to his _life_ even.

The guards would not have cared if he had lived or died. And, from what Icicle said, from what Wally said, there were a lot of deaths. Kaldur thought back to his idle musings when they had captured Pierce. How many missing people were just at the camps, their family never being notified? How many were dead, and their families would never know?

Because that was one of the things that bothered Kaldur the most about his entire experience with the camps: not once had he been asked his name. Icicle had given the guards a false story about them being scared children who had come into their powers and did not know where else to go, but the guards had not attempted to figure out who their birth parents were or who their guardians were. If that had been an actual situation that played out, the parents of those children would never know where they had gone. If the children had died during their time in the camps, then there was a good chance that the parents would never really find out what happened to them.

How would the guards know where to return the metahumans once they were cured? Was there really no research being done to cure them? Kaldur could not imagine the metahumans being sent back out into the world. How could they when they held the knowledge of the horrors of the camps? The government would be vilified for having allowed such horrors to occur. What else would they have been doing there, then? Why else were the metahumans being rounded up and experimented on if not for a cure that likely did not exist?

Kaldur squeezed his eyes shut. He needed to think about something else. This was just an unnecessary distraction. Without his permission, his mind wandered again. The Circus were the opposite of the Team. As the Team's energy flagged, the Circus's increased. There seemed to be nothing but single-minded determination in their movements. They never took breaks or stopped. They just worked and worked and worked no matter how exhausted they were. You could see their tiredness in the shaking of their hands and the times where they had to blink a couple of times to remain awake. They were just as exhausted as the Team but working ten times harder.

It was understandable and even commendable because that was their teammate, their _family_ who was missing, but it was also dangerous. If they wasted all of their energy trying to find Changeling, then they would not have any energy left to actually rescue him. It was a delicate balance, but not one that the Circus seems to have mastered. Kaldur was loathe to bring that up to them, however, having seen the way Maser had snapped at Green Lantern when Hal had tried to point out the same thing. No one had suspected Maser of having that kind of temper.

Wally's voice snapped Kaldur back to the present, "Hold up, guys. I might have something." He had his finger to his ear, head tilted slightly to the side and thick goggles covering up a chance to read his eyes. Kaldur had mentioned that he need not wear his mask anymore when most of the Team had seen his face, but he'd only given Kaldur a baleful glance in response before going back to his work.

Still, even though Kaldur could not see Wally's eyes, he could still tell when the speedster received good news. Wally's back straightened and his lips lightened out of their permanent frown (he had been smiling around the Team more often, becoming more open and happier as time passed, but he hadn't given even so much as a hint of a smile since they had pulled him out of the mind trap). Wally pressed something on his ear and said, "Where are you?"

"Yeah, it's not a big deal… No, really! I – come on, seriously? Who do you think I am?... What kind of shape are you in?... Okay. We can work with that. We'll be right there…. _Yes_ , I know," Wally spoke into the headset, entire expression lighter when he came off it.

Icicle was the first to speak, "What's going on? Was that Changeling?"

"The spy," Wally said. The rest of the room ground to a stop at his words. Wally continued after a second, "The spy was found out, but they also knew where Changeling was being held. They got Changeling out and the two of them ran. They just sent me a location and said that they're both in reasonably good health. Changeling got a couple of bad shocks, but nothing he can't deal with. I told them we'd be out there as soon as we could, but we do have to be careful. We don't know how much the Light knows about what communication methods the spy used, so there's no way to tell if they intercepted that conversation."

"Wait," Artemis said slowly, looking hesitant to bring up the topic, but also needing to know, "Does this mean we're going to find out who the spy is?"

Wally stared at her for a long, measured moment. The room held its breath. Finally, Wally spoke, "Yeah. Yeah, it does. But we need to leave quick. We don't want the two of them to be left alone for too long."

"Where are they?" Kaldur asked, already motioning the others towards the bioship. It would be a tight fit the Leaguers also joining in this venture, but they would make do.

It was Superboy who answered, "Bialya."

Wally's head jerked towards his suspiciously before he relaxed slightly, nose wrinkling, "Enhanced hearing, right. Forgot that you'd have been able to hear both sides of the conversation. Yeah, we're headed to Bialya."

Conner's expression was tense, "Your spy sounded like a young boy."

Ballistic barked out a laugh, "He certainly acts like one."

Black Canary rolled her eyes at him, " _You_ are the child. The rest of the team makes you seem as if you are the youngest one, despite being _many_ years older than the youngest. It's pitiful, really."

"So cruel! I'd have thought a boyfriend would be good for you, rather than make you crankier," Ballistic grunted.

Black Canary flushed a deep, flaming red before punching Ballistic. It didn't seem to faze him much because he just rubbed slightly at his arm and started laughing. Green Arrow, mostly unnoticed, had turned a dull shade of red off to the side. Kaldur decided that he did not want to know more about that. They were adults; they could handle that kind of situation on their own. Or let Wally deal with it since it involved a member of the Circus. Kaldur just did not want to get involved.

They made it to the hangar without further incident, each of them filing onto the bioship. Firehawk was the only one made to stay behind as she had not yet fully healed, and they had not tested out her prowess in battle with her condition. Wally was not going to risk her and, quite frankly, Kaldur agreed with his assessment. When all of this stress over getting Changeling back was done, they could focus more on getting Firehawk back to fighting shape. For now, Changeling was their priority.

Wally tensely settled back next to Kaldur, fingers tapping out a fast, rhythmic tune against his leg. He had already given M'gann the coordinates that the spy had given him and now could do nothing more than wait for them to arrive. If there was one thing Kaldur had noticed about Wally, it was that he hated waiting.

Carefully, Kaldur decided to broach a subject with him, "Supersonic, about what we saw in the camps…" He trailed off, not sure where he had been going with that. And he was normally such a well-spoken person, too! He did not know where his voice had gone off to.

Thankfully, Wally answered regardless, "I know you guys saw a lot and I _will_ sit down and talk to you guys about it, but, as of right now, Changeling is my priority. One thing that I will let you know is that you cannot allow your knowledge of the camps to change how you view us, alright? That's something that you can't do. We're the same people that you made an alliance with. We've been healing and we've been working through our problems and we've been getting somewhere. Treating us like we're invalids, like we're freaks, like… anything we're not, will do nothing but put us back. Let us continue to heal. Do not baby us. Do not belittle us. It won't help anyone."

Kaldur nodded his head in response to the plea, "Of course. We would endeavour to not treat you any different. Still, you must understand that this is hard for us. We were quite shocked by what we saw at the camps. We will do our best to never treat you different, but it is hard to not react differently when our eyes have been opened."

Wally sighed at the response, but didn't say anything else, only nodding his head back. Kaldur thought over his own words. He would try to treat Wally and the others the same, but it would be especially difficult with Wally. They had seen him as a small child, pale and gaunt and painted over with evidence of horror after horror. The things he must have gone through to have achieved that appearance after a year and a half of the camps… It was hard to see someone as the same when you see them in such a darkly pitiful state. It was hard to not feel some level of sympathy for the metahuman, hard to not want to protect him from facing more hardship (they were heroes after all), hard to not be a little bit in awe of the speedster sitting next to him. How does one move from that dead-eyed child to the strong warrior seated next to Kaldur? How does one make that leap, find that growth? How did Wally ever trust the heroes? How did any of them? Kaldur could not imagine ever trusting a human being again after what Wally had gone through.

Voice pitched quietly, reasonably sure that Conner was engrossed in a conversation with Robin, Kaldur asked Wally, "How did you end up in the camps?"

Wally stiffened, "I don't see why you need to know that."

Kaldur stared at him evenly, "I do not need to know that. I want to know that, as… as your friend."

Wally's face swung over to his, breath stuttering slightly in his throat, "Friends, huh?"

Letting out a small, nervous breath, Kaldur sent Wally a reassuring smile, "I would hope so."

Wally sighed, eyes falling shut slightly and body sagging back against the seat, "My parents sent me there. That's all the information that matters."

Kaldur winced, "Your parents…" He could not imagine a family member sending him to that place, could not imagine the horrible betrayal he would feel.

Apparently, some of that must have shown on Kaldur's face because Wally hastened to amend, "It wasn't their fault. I mean, no one really knows what the camps are like. It wasn't their fault that they didn't know what they were sending me to. Most of the people sent in by their families don't really blame them." He shrugged lightly, but the expression on his face told Kaldur that the discussion was over, and he wouldn't be hearing any more about that for a while.

The two sat in companionable silence until they arrived in Bialya.

M'gann brought the bioship to a hover over the spot that the spy had sent them to. Robin squinted down at the empty desert, "Are you sure this isn't some sort of trap? There is literally nothing here. It is completely flat desert for miles and miles and miles."

Wally stood up and squinted down at the ground, "Do we have any sort of detection for life forms?"

M'gann frowned lightly but nodded and tried. She shook her head after a moment, "There is nothing but the normal desert wildlife. Oh! I suppose one of those could be Changeling, but I would imagine that he would recognize the bioship and come out to see us."

Wally hummed noncommittally before leaning forward towards the window, this time craning his neck upwards, "Is there a way you could check above y-,"

He was cut off by an enormous crashing sound coming down on the top of the bioship. The ship buckled with the sound, M'gann letting out a startled gust of air at the movement. She quickly righted the ship. Wally looked towards the ceiling curiously before grabbing his comms unit and asking, "Is that you up there?"

Kaldur could not hear the reply, but the curious (and no longer hostile) look Conner sent the roof of the ship more than answered his question. The spy was the one who landed so violently on the ship.

Suddenly, Wally's head whipped up and he turned to look back out the window. Kaldur followed his sight and was startled to see several ships aiming towards them. Wally cursed, low and quiet, "Can you deal with those?... Okay, that's fine. Give me a sec."

"What is going on?" Kaldur demanded, eyeing the encroaching airships with concern.

Wally spoke quickly, "That's the spy and Changeling on the roof. Is there a way to let them in from there? If not, they can fly to a different entrance. The planes are forces from the Light. My spy can't deal with them because they've got anti-meta fields around them. As soon as they're within striking range, he won't have his powers activated. We need to outrun them."

M'gann was opening a hatch on the ceiling as soon as Wally finished speaking.

What fell through was… not what Kaldur had been expecting. Conner had not been joking when he'd said that the spy sounded like a young boy. Kaldur would be surprised if the boy was even as old as Dick. He had huge, electric blue eyes and a naturally happy countenance. His eyes were crinkled at the corner as he bent slightly at the waist, announcing, "It's a pleasure to meet you! My name is Billy Batson!"

"Just lead with your real name, why don't you?" Wally grumbled as he pulled Billy into a fierce hug. It lasted only a second, but it was more than the Circus had ever seen the normally sombre hero give anyone.

Before Billy could respond, Changeling dropped lightly into the room, "Sure, sure. Take all the attention, Billy. Don't mind the poor, formerly kidnapped Changeling!" Wally rolled his eyes good-naturedly before ruffling Changeling's hair. Changeling leaned slightly into it, the small sign of being touch-starved belying his joking words. Kaldur winced as he really took a chance to look at the two.

Changeling was worse off. He was only wearing a thin pair of shorts, his feet torn up and slightly blistered from the burning hot desert sand. The missing shirt revealed the amount of scars he had decorating his arms and chest. There was a band of skin around his neck that was a darker forest green, scraped up and bruised, slightly burnt from the electrical shocks.

Billy was almost as bad, though. His clothes were ragged and dirty. Underneath the thin veneer of childish delight, there was a hunted weariness that scared Kaldur. What would it to a child to be put undercover as often as this one was?

Conner was staring at Billy strangely. After a few seconds, Billy gave a short, confused laugh, "You okay there, buddy? Anything I can do to help?" Behind them, through the window, Kaldur could see the opposing airships getting further and further away as M'gann flew them to safety.

Conner frowned, "You're not the same person that was on the roof."

The members of the Circus froze. The only ones who didn't were Wally, Icicle, and Billy himself. Kaldur wondered at the reactions of the other members, wondered what it was that they were hiding. Billy tilted his head slightly, smile still on, "Yeah, no, I actually am the person who was on the roof. How else do you think I got in here?"

Conner shook his head determinedly, "No, you're not. The person who was on the roof had a much deeper voice. They were a lot larger too."

Billy's eyes crinkled with a smile and he looked like he was about to laugh it off, but something slamming into the side of the ship distracted them.

M'gann cried out, but quickly righted the bioship, grunting with the stress of having to pilot the ship. The planes that had been after them had caught up.

Robin eyed the panelling of the airplanes warily, "We don't have the force to get through the sides of those planes with our weapons! We can't them out with the weapons we have!"

Maser's expression lit up with an idea, "Robin! If you and I worked together, do you think we'd be able to hack the metahuman neutralizers on the planes?"

Eyes narrowing, Robin nodded, "Yeah, but I'm not sure how much that'll help."

"It'll help a lot. Please, do it," Wally said, glancing between Robin and the rapidly gaining planes. Robin hesitated for a second more before settling down and starting to hack into the planes. Maser joined him immediately, Batman hesitantly joining him a second later. Kaldur watched with bated breath as the three of them frantically tried to turn off the meta control.

It was less than a minute later when Maser cheered. Wally blew out a breath of relief, turning to Billy and grinning, "Come on. Show these guys what you've got."

Billy glanced at them hesitantly, "We trust them enough to show them my powers?"

Jinx scoffed derisively, but the rest of the group nodded determinedly. Billy gave Jinx a worried glance, but ended up following what his leader told him. He smiled and turned to M'gann, "Hey, could you please open that hatch again?"

M'gann turned to Kaldur for guidance, but he was just as lost as she was. Nevertheless, he nodded for her to do as Billy said. M'gann opened the hatch and Billy stood underneath it. He sent the group a jaunty wink before suddenly staring up at the sky. Abruptly, he called out, "Shazam!"

For the briefest of seconds, nothing happened and Kaldur could not help but wonder if this young child had lost his mind after so long spent in the enemy's arms. Then lightning crashed into the room and Kaldur had another reason to worry.

None of the other Circus members appeared at all concerned about the fact that their teammate had just been struck by an enormous bolt of lightning and Kaldur found himself horrified until, moments later, the lightning cleared, and a different man stood where Billy had been.

Rocket yelped and backed away. Artemis gripped her bow tightly, confusing painted across her brow. Batman gripped one of his batarangs and growled, "Who are you?"

The stranger grinned, the bright blue eyes and easy-going smile prickling at Kaldur's memory (except… there was no way because that wouldn't make any sense) until the man spoke, "C'mon! I just met you and you already forgot me? It's Billy!"

"You're an adult," Zatanna said faintly.

Billy winked at her, looking suddenly just like his younger form. Laughter in his voice, Billy said, "Now, let me show you why the Circus is okay with sending me undercover alone."

He gave them one more bright grin before flying up and out of the hatch, cape fluttering behind him. Kaldur just then realized that Billy's outfit had changed. Robin let out a strangled, "He can fly too?"

"That's not all," Changeling announced smugly, despite having just been complaining about Billy taking all the attention.

The group turned their attention to the window that showed the approaching planes. Billy was floating directly in front of the ship, cutting an imposing figure in front of them. The planes slowed down, as if confused, before speeding back up again. Billy grinned at them, feral and sharp. He lifted his arm dramatically, fingers splayed open in the air. Then, abruptly, he closed them into a tight fist. Kaldur watched with awe as thunderclouds formed in the air above Billy's closed fist. The clouds swirled and rocked dangerously.

Then, finally, Billy swept his arm down. Following the track of his arm, Kaldur watched as a bolt of lightning moved with the movement of Billy's arm, smashing into the planes as if they were merely toys to be batted away. The planes lit up in terrifying, bright yellow detail. They fell, power sources overloaded and destroyed by the bursts of lightning. They smashed into the ground, erupting into balls of flame across the hot desert sand.

Kaldur watched with wide eyes as Billy flew back into the room, landing dramatically in the centre of the ship, hands on his hips and cape still fluttering slightly behind him. He grinned that bright, blinding grin again, "You can call me Shazam."

 **Author's Note: I don't know how I feel about this chapter? I was running really low on time, though, so it's not too bad based on how quickly I had to write it. Ah, well. Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!**


	33. Chapter 33

**Author's Note: Here's another chapter for you guys! I'm glad that you guys liked last week's chapter despite how short it was and how meh it felt to me. Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Review:**

 **Anett – I'm glad you've liked the most recent chapters. Yeah, actually I had the idea of Billy as a spy kind of before I had formed any of the rest of the story. I hope I do him justice :P Thanks for the review!**

 **Guest – Haha, for sure. Poor Team is going to be mind-blown. Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Wally rolled his eyes and knocked his shoulder into Billy's, sending him stumbling out of his dramatic hero pose, "Don't act all high and mighty when the Light figured you out."

The heroes were gaping at him and Billy, horror written across their faces at Wally's easy, casual movements around Billy when he was in Shazam mode. Wally resisted the urge to scowl further at them, resisted the urge to puff up with offense over their blatant fear of Billy's vast amount of power. They had Superman on their side! How was Shazam _any_ different? But he couldn't think like that. Billy's powers were extensive, and he could be dangerous to the wrong opponent. It didn't matter what they've seen in the time they'd been working with the Circus. It didn't even matter what they saw in Wally's mind. They were facing almost a decade's worth of anti-metahuman sentiments, propaganda, and outright lies. It wasn't their fault that their natural reaction was to act as they'd been taught. As long as they didn't _continue_ to act like that, that is.

Kaldur was the first to recover, "Miss Martian, we need to leave this airspace. We do not know if the Light sent more reinforcements." This was why he was Wally's favourite. Well, there were several reasons. Wally couldn't help the small, bright moment where he remembered Kaldur hesitantly (hesitantly, but still somehow confidently) pronouncing Wally to be his friend.

Miss Martian scrambled to do what Kaldur said, sending a soft, careful look back out the window where the planes had come from. The other heroes were scattered around the bioship, backs edging towards walls and hands flexing near their weapons. Wally saw the flash of hurt sneak over Billy's face before he covered it up with another of his bright, goofy grins. Wally wanted to hurt someone.

Billy moved to lean against the seat Jinx was brooding in, ignoring her venomous glare, "So, what all did I miss?"

"How did you get caught?" Wally countered with. He'd fill Billy in on the details later.

Billy rolled his eyes and muttered, almost casually, "Shazam." There was a flash of lightning, the stark stench of ozone, a moment of crackling electricity that itched at the Speed Force running through Wally's veins, and then there was _Billy_ , his ten-year-old self pouting at them. Wally resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. Billy sulked, "It was the dumbest way they could have gotten me. So, like, I knew that they'd gotten the other spies and I knew that they'd gotten Changeling because you gave me that emergency update, right? I was prepared to react accordingly to that if someone asked me about it. And I knew they were going to ask me about it. They pulled all of the trusted mind readers aside and then asked everyone else on base to meet up in a large meeting room. I was like, shoot, this is where it goes down. The mind readers were stationed around the room and were all assigned a certain number of us to monitor. And, again, I thought they were going to say something about Changeling or the other caught spies to see if the mind readers could read a legitimate reaction from one of us. I was right about that last bit, but instead of saying something about what I expected, Luthor comes out and goes, 'We have received knowledge of the Circus. We have identified Black Canary as -,' well. Then he said BC's real name. I was in no way prepared to react to that. I balked and they caught onto me. I bailed, grabbed Changeling, called you."

Wally's eyes had grown wide and his head had shot up when Billy said that the Light knew Dinah's identity. Dinah herself was almost as bad as him, hand at her throat and mouth slightly open. She stuttered, "T-they… they knew _my_ i-identity?"

Billy's expression fell a little bit, shrugging hopelessly, "I don't know how they figured it out, but they definitely knew who you were. Pronunciation and everything. That was definitely your name."

Gears were spinning in Wally's mind. How could the Light have known? Zatanna offered hesitantly, "Is there a chance that the gorillas told them your name? Or the people of that African tribe? Or, well, the Hackers could have known too."

"Neither the gorillas nor the tribe knew our real names. That's prized information. We might show our faces to some people, but it's incredibly rare that we give people our names. The only people who know are the people in Holo City. That's it. It's possible there's a leak there, but… no. We already checked that out. We had looked into a leak earlier in this investigation and we determined that there was no way for someone to have been transmitting information out to other people and no one was leaving the city. It couldn't have been anyone else. Maybe Psimon got something out of my mind when he trapped me in there?" Wally theorized. That idea didn't quite make sense to him because, from what he'd heard, Psimon was laid out in a coma somewhere because Miss Martian really went to town on him in their mental battle. If he was in a coma, then how would he have transmitted the information? Who else knew Dinah's name, though?

It was Dinah who answered that question. She stepped away from the wall where she was leaning close to Oliver. Her hands shook just slightly as she backed away, closer to where Changeling, Billy, and Jinx were packed together. She spoke softly, "I told Green Arrow and Red Arrow my name."

Wally's head whipped up again, this time turning to look at the two heroes. They both gave each other startled glances. Billy's knuckles went white where he gripped Jinx's chair. Jinx herself had an expression of deep-seated anger, fear etched along the sides. The rest of the Circus wasn't much better.

Trying to pull himself together, trying to slow his heartbeat down, trying to maintain some tattered facsimile of the camaraderie the Team and the Circus had created over the time they'd been working together, Wally closed his eyes and breathed out, "Okay, okay. No need to jump to conclusions right now. We'll get back to HQ and we'll talk this out. No one is blaming anyone right now."

"Speak for yourself," Jinx growled.

Wally's shoulders sagged, "Jinx, we're going to talk it out and we're not going to jump to conclusions. We can't just blame them because Black Canary trusted them. There's no proof that those two things are connected. Just let it go until we get back, okay?"

Jinx stood up, eyes glowing, "No way! Are you _serious_ right now Supersonic? The Team is selling us out to the Light! There's a reason none of us tell people our names! Now here's Green Arrow or Red Arrow _or both_ giving out our names like candy! We can't trust them!"

"Jinx!" Wally snapped, voice going hard, Speed Force leaking over his skin, electricity crackling through his veins, across his flesh, swirling in his eyes, making them glow through the goggles, "Enough! We'll talk about this when we get back!" He tried not to wince when he saw some of the Team members backing away from him, eyes wide and startled, most likely at his wild appearance. He'd done his best to make sure that none of the heroes saw him when he was mad enough to manifest the Speed Force, but it was too late now. He hadn't meant to scare them.

Off to the side, the white slits of Batman's cowl narrowed, and Wally wanted something to swallow him whole. He didn't want to deal with Batman's incessant curiosity right now. Batman apparently didn't care because he growled, "Why do you not tell anyone your identities?"

Wally let out a harsh breath, "We'll talk about it when we get back to base. Let's wait until we're back somewhere safe and comfortable before we start these conversations, _alright_?"

Surprisingly, it was Garfield who spoke next, voice hesitant but sure, "Is it really safe to go back to the headquarters? Where we'll be in the heroes' territory with the Light's agents in there with us?"

"Changeling!" Cameron barked, the expression on his face saying that he didn't disagree with what Garfield was saying, but he did disagree with the fact that he was voicing it in front of the heroes.

"We don't have any spies or moles or double agents or whatever among us!" Artemis shouted, finally losing her temper. Wally was surprised it took that long.

Wally looked imploringly at Kaldur. Apparently, he wasn't a good enough leader to pull them all off the brink long enough for them to get to a safe place. He'd turn to Kaldur, who was a much better leader. Kaldur was looking at him with eyes wide. At Wally's imploring glance, Kaldur took a steadying breath, straightening his shoulders and assuming a dignified leader pose that Wally could never quite manage, "Everyone! Please stop asking each other questions. We will resume this conversation later, once we are back at the base. Jinx, you may make your accusations when we are safe. Batman, you can ask your question when we are back. Changeling, whether you are at the base or here, you are with the same people and at least at the base you have an easy exit if you should need it. Artemis, thank you for defending us, but now is not the time."

The group settled after Kaldur's words and Wally felt himself relax. Why was this so complicated? Why were there spies and moles and distrust? Why is the Light the only reason they came together? For all that Wally thought this alliance was one of the best things to happen to the Circus, for all that he believed that this alliance had the ability to change the world for the better, he did recognize that the _only_ reason it happened was because the Light became too big of a problem. There was a very, very, very good chance that they never would have come together if the Light hadn't been a thing.

Wally shook his head. He didn't need those thoughts right now. So, moving through the oppressive, thick silence of the bioship, Wally crouched next to Garfield, whispering to him as quietly as he could, "Where are you hurt? I'll patch you up."

The only sounds for the rest of the trip was Wally's gentle application of bandaging and Garfield's quiet comments on where he was hurt.

It was almost a relief when they made it back to the base.

It was less of a relief when they saw that Wonder Woman, Red Tornado, Aquaman, Icon, and Superman were waiting for them. Wally shot Batman a glare, "Did you call them?"

"They need to hear this too," Batman responded, nonplussed.

"Actually," Wally fought, "They really don't. This is between the Team and the Circus. None of you Leaguers need to be here at all. Let us figure out our own problems."

"The Team is a corollary of the Justice League-," Superman started.

Cameron didn't let him finish, "They are a corollary, yes, but they are their own team. From what the League members themselves have told me and from what the Team has told me, they are their own separate team, their only interactions with you limited to funding, supplies, training, and mission assignments. Nowhere does it say that you need to be here during this."

Wonder Woman snapped at them, "They're just children!"

Dinah snapped right back, "So are the members of the Circus and they're doing just fine! I don't respect them any less just because they were born a little later! Every member of the Team is a _hero_ and should be treated with the same respect."

"Well," Wonder Woman says, voice cold, "With all due _respect_ , then, they're _our_ young heroes. I believe we have more say in this than _you_ do. With that in mind, _we're staying_."

Dinah puffed up, readying to go again, only lashing out because she was scared and confused and hurt. Wally cut her off, turning to look Kaldur straight in the eye, "Are you okay with the League members staying here?"

Kaldur hesitated for a moment, eyes flicking between the League and the rest of the group before he sighed, nodding. Wally nodded back before announcing, "Then they can stay."

"How is that fair?" Jinx snarled.

Wally just barely stopped himself from pushing his fingers through his hair roughly, "This is a discussion, Jinx! This is a discussion that we need to have, and the Team has the right to choose who gets to be present for the discussion!" Jinx bared her teeth at him but didn't say anything further. Wally felt a dull sort of tiredness sinking into his bones, which was ironic considering he'd just woken up. But he hadn't really, had he? His mind had been on the whole time, reliving and recreating the camp in horrifying, minute detail. He wasn't ready to deal with a conversation like this. He wasn't ready to deal with this situation. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to talk to Cameron about what had happened. He wanted… he wanted… it didn't really matter what he wanted, in the end.

The group moved almost as one towards one of the larger conference rooms, naturally separating into two sides. Leslie rolled a confused Lorraine into the room before hesitantly leaving it, eyes flickering between the two groups with a hint of fear. Wally almost wanted to suggest that they have this meeting in the living room, where they'd be more comfortable, more easy-going, but he didn't dare suggest it. He knew that there would likely only be bad reactions to a comment like that.

For a long moment, it seemed like no one knew how to start the conversation. Finally (thankfully), Batman spoke up, voice gruff, but softer than it could have been, "We need to find out how the Light discovered Black Canary's identity and we need to know why that is so important."

Wally answered immediately, not letting Jinx or Dinah get a word in, "The second question is easy enough to answer. Some of us have family out there. Not all of us, but enough. If no one knows who any of us are, then they can't use our family against us. Some members of the Team or Justice League have been entrusted with our some or all of our identities, but that is decided on an individual basis."

"Who knows who?" Robin asked, leaning forward, sadness caught in the crinkles of his mask.

Wally shrugged, "I don't entirely know the answer to that question. I told Aqualad mine. I'm pretty sure Green Lantern knows practically everyone's. Black Canary told Green Arrow and Red Arrow apparently. I know Firehawk told Dr. Leslie hers. Obviously, Billy told you guys his. Other than that, if anyone else told anyone their identities, then I don't know about it."

Artemis admitted hesitantly, "In your mindscape, you called Icicle 'Cam.'"

Tensing, Wally turned to Cameron, an apology swimming in his eyes. Cameron gave him an easy smile in return, "You're fine. It's not like they can do anything with just the name 'Cam.'" Wally smiled at him in relief. He didn't know what he'd do without Cameron.

"Okay, so there you go. That who knows who and why we don't want people to know who we are. So, how did people find out who Black Canary is?" Wally asked, putting his hands together and tugging on a finger nervously.

"I think the Hackers are the best bet. I mean, you guys said that they know, like, everything, right? It was probably them telling the Light," Rocket said, hand on a hip and fingers tightly clenched at the fabric there, obviously worried by this whole situation.

"That's a valid idea," Wally allowed, "But that still doesn't really show how they connected Black Canary and her original identity. I mean, it's not like we have the information online somewhere."

Robin mused, "It's possible that they spied in on your technology in your base."

"I can feel the technology and I've got a pretty good connection with the tech at our base. I know what it feels like when the Hackers hack into our network and they never touched our cameras or microphones. They grabbed our research and our files, but part of our deal, part of the agreement we made with them said that they'd never touch the cameras or mics. And they knew I'd be able to tell. They knew we'd come after them if they failed on their end of the deal," Harold answered. On the other side of the room, Hal's fingers were twitching outward like he wanted to be on their side of the room, like he wanted to comfort his cousin.

"It has to be the Hackers," Artemis said, expression lost, "Because neither Green Arrow nor Red Arrow are the mole. They _aren't_."

"I'm not hearing a whole lot of defence coming from them," Jinx sneered. Wally wanted to reprimand her but couldn't make himself. It would only make her angrier and he didn't want to seem like he was siding with one group over the other. This was what he was good at – kinda, sorta. His team would come to him to settle disputes. They had a system. He was a fair, dispassionate judge. He could do this.

Red Arrow's mouth fell lower into a scowl, "That's because there's nothing to defend. We're innocent." Jinx scoffed but, mercifully, didn't say anything else.

"Look, I like Red Arrow and I know that BC and Green Arrow liked each other, and BC trusted them enough to give her their identity and I trust Black Canary. That's how I feel, but… we have to face facts. There is no other way for the Light to have gotten the information other than from a mole here in the Team. I'm not saying that either Red Arrow or Green Arrow is the mole. I'm just saying that the mole is the one we need to worry about. Maybe Red Arrow or Green Arrow told someone else Black Canary's identity. I don't know. I'm just stating the facts as I see them," Kelvin said, voice heavy. He obviously didn't want to point it out, but someone had to.

Kaldur tried to argue back, "We do not know for sure if we even _have_ a mole."

"No, you've definitely got a mole," Billy said, eyebrows pulled together, "Never got any hints on an identity, but the people at the Light definitely talked about a mole."

"So they said that while they were walking around the hallways to through off any potential spies among them. They might have thought that we had someone undercover in there or something," Artemis said.

Billy's eyebrows rose, "Are you serious?" He snorted, "The Light was leading you guys by the nose. You were doing exactly what the Light expected you to do. They knew that you didn't have anyone undercover." Artemis flushed deep red, but she didn't say anything.

Lorraine shook her head, trying to follow the conversation, "What I'm hearing is that the biggest problem is that there's a mole among the Team. Then we just root the mole out. Problem solved."

"I've been trying to do that for _months_ ," Red Arrow growled.

Garfield snorted, "Wait, the person in charge of finding the mole is the one we currently suspect of being the mole? No wonder you never found evidence of the mole being anyone else. Does no one else see this? He's the mole and he's been investigating everyone else to throw suspicious off of him."

"He's not the mole!" Oliver shouted suddenly.

"What proof do you have of that?" Dinah asked, eyes impossibly sad, but determined.

Oliver actually stumbled back a little bit, "Is my trust not enough?"

Dinah shrugged slightly, "I'm naturally suspicious. Humour me."

"That's not how it works," Oliver said, voice dark and expression so, so sad. Dinah's own eyes watered, but she kept her jaw locked.

Jinx sneered again, "They don't have any proof that he's not the mole."

Robin sent Wally a desperate look, "Why aren't you saying anything? You have to know that Red Arrow isn't the mole! You _have_ to know that! You don't have any evidence that he _is_ the mole!"

But, that wasn't exactly true, was it? There were sure a lot of circumstances piling it up that made it seem like Red Arrow was the mole. Wally shook his head, closing his eyes for a brief moment, "Here's how I see it. At the moment, the only person who could be the mole is Red Arrow." Wally ignored the furious voices, the betrayed gasps, the way Kaldur briefly closed his eyes as if in pain, speaking over all of them, "For the safety of not only the Circus members but also the Team members, I have to ask that Red Arrow be detained for the foreseeable future."

Red Arrow snarled at him, " _Detained_? Am I some sort of wild animal? You sit there and fight the world and say how you're just misunderstood, and you aren't really bad and then you come in here and have the audacity to say that I should be locked up for some half-baked suspicions your team has! No way! _Absolutely no way_!"

Kaldur moved forward, placing a calming hand on Red Arrow's shoulder, "Supersonic, please. You must understand that your request is unreasonable. We have no proof to condemn him. We would be no better than the Collection Agency if we were to lock him away with no definitive proof, blame him for things other people have said about him."

It was a low blow and it took Wally's breath with it. His eyes hardened and his mouth pulled further down into his customary frown, "We've given our reasons for thinking that he's the mole. I do not feel like my team is safe with him able to run around and potentially give our information to the enemy. I can't risk them." He was pleading with Kaldur as he spoke, pleading the Atlantean to see how serious he was, how much this whole situation hurt him too.

Fists clenching slightly, Kaldur obviously tried to keep the pain off of his face, but couldn't quite manage, "We will not detain Red Arrow. Supersonic, trust me when I say that I know Red Arrow. I know him and I know that he would never betray this team. He is not even an official member of the Team! He is a solo hero asking to be considered to join the Justice League. He is not the mole."

"Then who is, Aqualad? If you can give me another name, we can leave this all behind us," Wally answered, tired to his bones.

Kaldur's eyes betrayed his hurt, "I know not who the mole is. I cannot give you another name, only the assurance that Red Arrow is not the mole. Can you not at the very least trust me?"

For a long, long moment, the two of them stared at each other, their respective teams falling away. All that was left of this alliance was pinned on Wally's answer. Did he trust Kaldur? He'd told Kaldur his name, told him about his parents. That was more than the vast majority of people got from Wally. Why did he give Kaldur this information? Was it because he trusted the other leader? Was it something else?

He had accepted Kaldur's offer of friendship. The two were friends and co-leaders. It had been a long time since Wally had made a new friend. The warm, bubbly feeling of making this connection (and with a hero no less) filtered up through Wally, reminding him of everything he had to gain by trusting Kaldur. The hero had known Red Arrow for a long time, knew his team like the back of his hand. If anyone was going to find the mole it would be the ever patient Kaldur.

Unless, unless the mole was hidden from his sight, blocked by past friendship and warm feelings of brotherhood. If Red Arrow had turned while they still knew each other, then there was a good chance that Kaldur would never see it, too blind by what Red Arrow used to be, by what he wanted Red Arrow to be. Could Wally trust Kaldur? Did he trust Kaldur to not be blinded by his own feelings?

Looking at the hero standing in front of him, earnest and strong and so very caring, Wally knew that he couldn't. He couldn't trust Kaldur to see past the rose-tinted glasses he seemed to wear around his own team. He couldn't trust Kaldur to put the Circus's opinion above his own team's.

And, in the end, Wally couldn't trust Kaldur at all. Couldn't trust him to not betray Wally, to not fall back into an anti-meta mindset the moment the Circus were on their way. Wally couldn't bring himself to fully trust a hero. Not now. Not after the life he'd lived. He'd let people like his Aunt and Uncle trust the heroes. The heroes wouldn't listen to Wally? That was their loss then. He wasn't going to stick around and wait for them to fall apart.

Wally allowed his voice to harden, fists clenched under the table, "Either Red Arrow is detained, or our alliance is absolved." He _felt_ the waves of betrayal rolling off of the heroes, the shock roiling throughout the room. But he could also the relief, the release of tension coming off of his own team.

Kaldur's shoulders dropped and he allowed himself a brief moment where his head was down, and his eyes were closed. Then he raised his head again and spoke clearly, "Then this alliance is absolved. I would ask that you vacate the premises immediately. Please note that as soon as you leave this property, you will once again be considered criminals. Dangerous criminals as you know more about us than most other enemies." There was hurt swimming in Kaldur's eyes, hurt coiled in the tense lines of his muscles, hurt trapped in the downward tilt of his lips.

Wally swallowed around a tight ball of grief in his throat and nodded. He stood swiftly, reaching out and grabbing his teammates as he went. He moved them first, racing them over to the main Circus headquarters before returning for their things. He had to move extra slowly with Lorraine, horribly careful to make sure that he didn't hurt her. She would need to be dropped off at Holo City at some point, but that wasn't his priority at the moment.

He saved his room for last. He wasn't all that surprised to see Kaldur standing in there, likely having raced to his room as soon as Wally disappeared with the first person. Kaldur clenched his jaw, "I had believed we were friends."

Wally knew that he shouldn't engage, that he should just grab his stuff and run. Still, though, he paused and slowed down, "We are."

"Were," Kaldur said harshly. Wally flinched and Kaldur flinched with him, expression softening slightly, "How can you claim to be my friend and yet not trust me? I thought we had moved past that."

"Kaldur, you're blinded by your friendship with Red Arrow. I'm telling you that he's the most likely candidate for the mole. It's gotta be him. I'm sorry you don't want to hear that, but-," Wally started, but he was cut off.

Jaw still clenched, fists curled at his sides, Kaldur shook his head, " _You_ are the one who is blinded, Wally. You have allowed your dislike of humans to colour your reasoning. You have allowed it to drive a wedge between us." Wally felt like Kaldur was driving a wedge through his heart, honestly, but he never got a chance to say anything of the sort.

He almost didn't hear the inhibitor field powering up around the room, but he did hear the door slip shut. He whipped around, almost falling over with the lack of speed he'd expected. By the time he'd turned around to look at Kaldur, the Atlantean had a small breathing apparatus over his face. For a second (a second too long), Wally couldn't figure out what was happening.

Then he really started breathing in the gas and fell. Unconscious cushioned him as he fell. Or maybe, just maybe, Wally thought as the last of his sight slipped from his vision, Kaldur's worried face suddenly hovering over his head, maybe it was a friend's arms that cushioned his fall.

 **Author's Note: So… that honestly took a turn I wasn't expecting? Like, not at all how I planned that chapter to end. I don't even know where I'm going but apparently Wally's a prisoner now? Who knows? Haha, anyways, thanks for reading guys! Let me know what you think!**


	34. Chapter 34

**Author's Note: Finally! It's been so long since I wrote to you! Things are finally starting to get caught up and I feel like this break is what I'll need to get my life back on track. We'll see, I guess. Thanks for sticking with me! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Weiver – Hey! It's been a while! Haha, I mean, you also have the addition of the fact that Roy isn't even really in the Team. He's been hanging around them through this whole story, but he's actually an independent identity. What part of that would make the Team think he's the mole spying on** _ **their**_ **team? I mean, I also totally understand what you mean. I'm a little mad at the Team too :P Well, it wasn't winter break for me, but it's spring break for me now, haha. That's so bizarre to me. I hope you enjoyed your break! Thanks for the review!**

 **Nano – Haha, me too. Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Wally's head ached when he woke up. He grimaced, moving his arm up behind his head to feel for a bump, but there wasn't anything there. Forehead scrunching, Wally took in a deep breath, coughing as something sharp and tangy came in with the breath, tickling the barest remnants of something in his throat.

Wally sat fully up, putting a hand to his chest as he tried to get his breath back under control. He squinted, the pain in his head flaring as he tried to pull everything back together. He took another deep breath, noting that there was no tangy aftertaste that time. Wally breathed in and out a couple more times before he felt like he could really look around him.

He blinked at his surroundings, letting his head fall back towards the cot when he realized he was in a cell. One of the Team's cells. Wally resisted the urge to swear, letting his eyes close and wishing he were anywhere but here.

Kaldur's voice calling out to him only made the feeling worse, "I know that you are awake, Supersonic."

"Fascinating," Wally answered sharply, shoulders hunching instinctively.

Kaldur's voice held a sigh in it when he said, "We did warn you. We told you that from the moment you left this building, you would be considered an extremely dangerous criminal." Wally didn't respond, didn't even turn to face the older teen. Kaldur continued after moment's pause, "That being said, I had not been aware that they were going to do that. I had been instructed to talk to you, to talk you down, to convince you to reconsider while we were in an environment where no one else was watching. Then, when you turned around, Superman informed me through my comms device that I should put my rebreather on. I did not have a chance to convince him to take a different course of action."

Wally stayed silent for a moment. He wanted to believe Kaldur, but… how could he? He remembers a brief flash of Kaldur's worried expression looking over him, but that doesn't mean a thing. It certainly didn't mean that Kaldur had nothing to do with what had happened.

Voice still sharp, Wally asked, "How long have I been out?"

"Only thirty minutes," Kaldur answered immediately, "We were not expecting you to wake up so soon. We, ah, have never attempted to put a speedster to sleep before."

"Right," Wally muttered bitterly.

Kaldur cleared his throat slightly, "I have convinced Robin to give me ten minutes with you unsupervised. The cameras are off. Please, look at me. Please _talk_ to me. Please, Wally."

Wally closed his eyes, trying to stop himself from being convinced by Kaldur's words. Kaldur had just betrayed him, no matter what the teen said.

But then again, did he really? Kaldur had very clearly warned Wally that the Circus would be considered criminals the moment they left the building. And Wally had left the building. He'd been given warning. Kaldur was just doing what he always did, what he was born to do. He was just being the hero, regardless of whether or not he was lying about his knowledge of Wally's capture.

And… and regardless of what Wally thought about trust, Kaldur really was his friend. Trust was a complicated thing for Wally, hard won and hard kept. It was a fluid concept that only really, truly existed for Cameron. Friendship and trust hadn't gone hand in hand since Wally was eight and his parents were selling him out to the Collection Agency (even though it wasn't their fault; it _wasn't_ ). Friendship was love and loyalty and caring, but never trust. Trust was saved for Cameron, the only person who was with him through it all, who he had spent six years living in the same bed block with, who he _knew_ more than anyone else, who knew him.

So, Kaldur was still his friend. And even if Wally didn't trust him, being Kaldur's friend at least meant that Wally owed him the benefit of the doubt, owed him the chance to explain himself. So, Wally turned over on his cot and stared at Kaldur, "Then talk."

Kaldur's shoulders slumped and air left his lungs in one grateful swoop. He took a shuddering breath in, "Wally, I am truly sorry for the situation that you are now in. This was not my intention. This entire mess was not at all my intention. I wish this could have gone a different way."

"It easily could have," Wally shot back, "You could have listened to us and fully investigated Red Arrow."

Lips turning down, Kaldur said somewhat desperately, "You must understand why we could not do that. Red Arrow has been a good friend of mine since before the Team was even formed. Myself, Red Arrow, and Robin were the original sidekicks and we have grown up as brothers. He would _never_ betray us. Ever. He is far too loyal for that. He is far too _just_ as well. He believes in justice and in stopping criminals. He would never side with a criminal organization as large, dangerous, and vile as the Light."

"I'm not saying that he's doing this willingly. I'm not ever saying for sure that he's the mole! I _just_ wanted him detained so that he couldn't spread more knowledge of us. Or, I don't know. Maybe if he was detained, we'd be able to figure out that he _wasn't_ the mole by seeing if the mole made a move. Maybe he is the mole and he's being threatened, blackmailed into doing this. Maybe the Light are more convincing than you thought. Maybe they're doing some mind control, some brainwashing. All I'm saying is that Red Arrow is the person most likely to be the mole and I'd like to prevent my team from getting hurt," Wally frowned, looking down at his hands, "You have to understand that at least, right? You have to understand wanting to protect your team?"

"Yes," Kaldur answered instantly, "And that is why I cannot allow Red Arrow to be detained. He may not be an official member of the Team, but he is family and he is important to this Team. I will not allow that to be jeopardized. I will not allow him to be hurt."

"Even if that means hurting the rest of your team?" Wally asked softly, "Kaldur, I'm really, really not trying to hurt anyone here. I'm not even making any concrete accusations. I'm just asking that you keep Red Arrow from going out and posing a threat and I'm asking that you investigate him."

Kaldur shrugged, expression twisting slightly, "I only ask that you give me something more concrete. The Light needed to tear our two teams apart. We are a formidable force and we were making significant headway against them. Is it not possible that they already knew Black Canary's identity, that they waited to reveal that information until the last possible second in order to sow dissension among us? None of us know how long the Light has been in operation. We do not know how far their power reaches. For all we know, they could have known of Black Canary's identity before she even became a metahuman. Someone from her past could have recognized her and informed the Light. The Hackers could have found her identity some other way. Maybe when she was telling Red and Green Arrow her identity, the Hackers could have been watching and heard her. They could have sent that information to the Light and they could have realized that that reveal was the perfect opportunity to split our team apart."

"Do you know how unlikely that is?" Wally countered, "Do you realize how unlikely it is that the Hackers are even still alive at this point? I really doubt they are. I think they've outlived their purpose and I think the Light isn't a huge fan of people who have a lot of power but aren't completely loyal to them."

"You are cynical," Kaldur said, and Wally turned his eyes away, scowling at the floor. Kaldur continued, voice a little softer, "You cannot allow your mistrust of humans to colour this decision."

"I'm _not_ ," Wally snapped. He took a deep breath, trying to rein his temper in, "I'm being as impartial as I can be. My thoughts were never about how I could sabotage a human. My thoughts were entirely on how I can keep my team safe."

"And yet, your thoughts never went to us. If you were truly able to see past your opinions of humans, then you would have been able to trust us to help you. You would have been able to see that we can be trusted enough to aid you in this process," Kaldur said, eyes sad.

Wally shrugged, "We've known you for, what? A month? Two? We've seen humans mistreating us for a _lot_ longer than that. It's hard for us to trust you. To trust anyone. I can't even fully trust the Alliance because they have a mixture of metahumans and humans and the idea of that terrifies me so much that I can't even imagine trusting them. And if I can't trust you myself, then there's no way I'm trusting you with the safety of my team. Especially when you're blinded by your own friendships."

Kaldur shook his head, "You are not _listening_."

Wally interrupted before he could say anything more, "Kaldur. You've been in my mind. You've seen a fraction of the horrors that the camps provide. You were in the camps for just over an hour. I was in there for just over _six years_. You had the knowledge that you could get out anytime you wanted to. I was fully convinced that I would never able to escape. You were surrounded by friends. I had one guy who I met on the bus ride to the camp, but honestly, everyone in there were strangers. I _know_ that means that I'm pretty messed up. I know it means that I probably shouldn't be trying to lead a team, especially one made up of people just as messed up as I am. I know I'm not really meant to be a leader in the first place. I know all of that put together makes me dangerous, unpredictable, and unfit for the position of co-leader. _But_ , I've survived all of that. I would even say that I've done quite well for all the opportunities that were afforded to me. Doesn't that say something about my mistrust? Doesn't that say that at least some of it is warranted? This alliance was created so we could provide what the other team couldn't. Can't that work here too? Your trust balances out my mistrust, but both are respected?"

Kaldur didn't answer the question, instead saying, "Robin has informed me that our time is up. There will be two guards posted at your door at all times. Please do not antagonize them or attempt to persuade them over to your side."

Wally gaped at him, "Are you serious? Two guards? Don't try to persuade them? Seriously?"

Kaldur grimaced, "You must admit that you are rather known for your escaping skills." He gave Wally a glimmer of a smile, but then he was gone.

Wally flopped back down onto the cot, trying to ignore the fact that there were cameras watching his every movement, that there would be guards standing outside his barr – no, his _cell_. This wasn't the camp. It wasn't. Wally got out over a year ago. The mind trap was just in his mind. He had _not_ been captured again. He _hadn't_.

Wally thought about his team. They were going to be _furious_. It wouldn't take them too long to figure out what had happened. He wondered what they'd do. He desperately hoped that they wouldn't be foolish enough to come after him. The League and the Team were likely going to be on guard for that. He hoped that Cameron would make sure that they kept going after the Light.

The Light was the biggest threat at the moment. Maybe Cameron could arrange something with the Alliance. They were a non-violence group, but that didn't mean that they couldn't work with the Circus this once. Maybe the Alliance and the Circus would be enough to take down the Light. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

Sighing again, Wally threw an arm over his face, ignoring the feeling of his goggles digging into his arm, ignoring the feeling of his guards' eyes on him as whoever they were settled outside his door.

They made it impossible to ignore by starting to talk to him. Wonder Woman asked gently (far more gently than Wally had thought possible), "Are your accommodations acceptable?"

Wally resisted the urge to say something sarcastic like, "they would be if there was less noise" or something equally rude, but Wonder Woman really was trying to be civil. He'd try to return the favour. Eventually he settled on, "They're better than I could have asked for, thanks." He took his arm off his face and propped himself on his elbows as he spoke.

Wonder Woman scrutinized him for a long moment, "Do some of you really have families to protect?"

"What? Did you think we lied about that just to garner pity or something? Seriously?" Wally tried to stop himself from getting angry.

Voice slightly cooler, but cheeks heated, Wonder Woman swallowed, "When I became a hero of Man's world, I swore to myself to protect _everybody_. I realize now, through my own interactions with the Circus and with what the Team has told me, that I have been remiss on that promise. I have failed the metahumans. This does not mean that I condone your actions, nor do I approve of you or your team necessarily. I certainly do not agree with your callous accusations of Red Arrow. I do, however, recognize that I have failed you for many, many years."

Wally winced slightly, "That's… that's not your fault. Heroes can't do everything. From what I've heard, you've saved a lot of people. It's not your fault that you didn't know that we were being… that the camps were as bad as they were. I don't see how this has anything to do with our families, though."

Wonder Woman took a deep breath, "Between the lack of metahumans in everyday life, the world-wide anti-metahuman propaganda, and the fact that my only interactions with metas was stopping them from committing crimes, I forgot that metahumans were _people_ , too. That is especially shameful for me because I, as an Amazon, am not quite _human_ either. I should know better than most that you can still be a person if you are not human. But I had allowed myself to be led astray by the words of the ignorant. Now, I am doing what I should have been doing this entire time. I am using this as an opportunity to show myself that metahumans are people too."

"And that's why you want to hear about our families. If we have lives and families beyond what cookie cutter stereotype the world put us into, then it's easier to see us as people," Wally finished for her. She nodded, slightly embarrassed, but determined all the same. Superboy was sat next to her, staring at Wally just as intently.

Sighing, Wally pulled himself all the way up so he was leaning against the wall behind him. He spoke quietly, "I mean, there's not a lot I can tell you without giving too much away. Jinx doesn't have any family. Neither does Changeling or Billy. Icicle's family is awful, and he wants nothing to do with them. Ballistic's got parents and a little sister who probably have no idea where he is. Black Canary doesn't really have family, but she's got some close friends who she misses terribly. Maser's family went missing a little bit before he became a meta. He's got someone, though. Firehawk's got someone waiting at home for her, waiting for her to come home 'cured,' which'll probably never happen. And if they do cure our metahuman-ness, then Firehawk goes home paralyzed from the neck down. I've got people waiting for me, too. Family back at home and some on the run. Does that answer your question?"

"Do you miss your family?" Wonder Woman pressed.

Wally grimaced, "I mean, I haven't really given myself the _time_ to miss them. I know in the first couple weeks of camp I missed them horribly. But, there's only so much time you can waste on that. I miss them, but I never really think about it, so I never really feel like I miss them. I don't know. It's kind of hard to think about. I mean, at this point, I've gone almost half my life without seeing them." He hadn't really thought of it that way until he said it, but he realized with sudden clarity that it _had_ been almost eight years since he last saw his parents.

He wondered what they were doing. Were they happy? Were they even still alive? His mother and father hadn't been particularly rich and the area of Blue Valley they'd lived in had been… not _rough_ exactly, but also not a place you'd feel comfortable walking around in at night. He wondered if they ever spared a thought to the son they sent away, to the son they were so disgusted by that their immediate response to him was to get him changed. Maybe they were more like him. Vague thoughts of his parents drifted through his mind every now and then, but he was in a new world, a changed world. His parents were part of his past life. They weren't the catalyst into his new life – that was Josh's electrical storm, but they were the ones who ensure that he went down a certain path.

Wally didn't blame them, of course. He just… didn't really care. It made him feel awful and sick. He knew that Harold desperately missed his parents and wanted nothing more than to find them again. He knew that Kelvin wanted to know if his parents were alright but was also completely terrified about how they'd react to his new appearance (which is why he'd disappeared off to the camps without telling his parents or sister, leaving only a voicemail). Maybe it was because Wally had been gone so long. Maybe it was because he lost hope of ever getting cured, of ever getting away from this life, sooner than the others. Maybe his relationship with his parents wasn't as good as it should have been. Wally didn't know and likely wouldn't.

He changed tactics, "Do you have a family?"

Wonder Woman gazed evenly at him for a moment before answering, "I do. My mother is back on Themyscira. And my team is my family." She hesitated for a second before answering Wally's next question before he could even ask it, "I do miss her. She was… displeased when I chose to aid Man's world, especially the way I did. She believes that we should leave men to themselves. But… how could I have this power and this knowledge of the suffering of Man and not do anything?"

Wally's eyebrows rose, "What is Themyscira?"

Wonder Woman raised an eyebrow in return, "You do not know?" Wally shook his head. Wonder Woman made a slight humming noise before leaning back and explaining, "Themyscira is the homeland of the Amazons. It is an island filled only with warrior women. We do many things there, from fighting to horseback riding to…"

KKKKKK

Kaldur wasn't surprised when Dick and Roy found him not long after he left Wally's cell. He lifted his face from his hands and blew out an exhausted breath. Dick had pulled up the feed to Wally's cell. Diana was stood in front of the cell, gesticulating wildly with her arms, Wally nodding seriously, Connor squinting at the two in confusion behind them.

Kaldur chuckled mirthlessly, "For all that Supersonic is rather dour most of the time, he certainly has a way with people."

"I'm guessing he's not budging on his stance, then?" Roy asked, voice heavy.

Kaldur shook his head, "No. I understand where he is coming from, but he is also wrong. I know that you would never betray us."

Roy shifted uncomfortably, " _I_ know that I haven't betrayed you and I know that I _wouldn't_ betray you. I mean, even Artemis defended my innocence, which has to say something. But, I don't know. Maybe you should, I don't know. Check me out anyways. Investigate me, whatever." Dick wiggled a little bit in his seat, a slightly nervous expression flitting over his face. Roy sighed, "You're already investigating me, aren't you?"

Dick winced, "It's nothing against you, Roy! It really isn't! It's just… you know how Bats and I are. We have to check everything. Even if that means investigating one of my best friends. I mean, that isn't really our priority right now anyways."

"Finding out if I'm potentially a spy and therefore the cause of this alliance dying a fiery death _isn't_ the priority right now? Then what's the priority?" Roy asked incredulously.

Dick frowned, "The Circus definitely know that their leader isn't coming back yet. They probably have a pretty good idea that it's us that took Supersonic. We have to be ready for some sort of retribution. I mean, you saw how they worked themselves to the bone to get Wally out of that mind trap. Imagine how they're going to go at this. Makes me wish that Clark could handle being around Connor long enough to stay and protect us from Shazam because _wow_."

Roy went quiet for a second before admitting, "Sometimes I forgot just how dangerous they are. I mean, I genuinely believe only Superman would be able to take out Shazam. And then there was Supersonic. I mean, he's captured right now, but remember that moment on the bioship when he got mad at Jinx? And he started actually sparking. That was terrifying. _Completely terrifying_. I fully believed he could have killed all of us before one of us could have even reached for a weapon."

Putting his head back in his hands, Kaldur muttered, "I regret becoming the leader of this team."

Dick grinned and poked him none-to-gently, "Nah, you'll never regret it. You love it! There might be some rough spots, but you love it!"

Letting out a soft huff of laughter, Kaldur admitted, "Alright, that is true. I do love being the leader of this team. Even throughout this whole mess. I guess… _especially_ through this whole mess. You have to admit that our team ran more effectively than ever. We were getting along better inside the cave and we were learning about an entirely new set of people. We were… making new friends. It was as if we were meant to make that alliance. We were better for it."

"He could still come around, you know," Dick said tentatively, "This doesn't mean that he's completely stopped being your friend. I mean, you were in his mindscape, you know a little bit about what happened in those camps. I'm sure you could understand that he probably doesn't know the first thing about making friends. This is probably unchartered territory for him. He's bound to make mistakes."

"Yeah, about that," Roy said, cutting off whatever Kaldur would have said, "What exactly did you guys see in there? Because no one really explained it. All the rest of us know is that you started giving the metas tragic looks whenever you saw them, and you kept alluding to awful things having happened. That's all we know. So, spill."

Kaldur shuddered, "I am not sure you truly want to know. I rather wish I did not know. We were… we were treated awfully. I wish there was a stronger word I could find."

"Inhumane doesn't even begin to cover it. I genuinely believe that the guards there didn't recognize us as people," Dick admitted quietly. Roy absently threw an arm over Dick's shoulder, tucking the younger boy in close. Dick continued after a second, "I've never felt so discouraged, so convinced that I was lesser than others. And I was only there for a little while. The Circus… they were all there for so much longer than we were. I could not even imagine. In the mindscape, Supersonic had attempted an escape, the same escape that he had used to get out of the camp in real life. It didn't work, though. They stopped him before he or anyone else could get out. To punish him, they killed upwards of twenty metahumans. They made Supersonic clean the blood."

"They did not even ask us our names," Kaldur said slowly, continuing when it seemed as if Dick could not, "They did not properly register us or ask any questions. Icicle told the guards that we were children from the same orphanage who realized that we had powers and had come to turn ourselves in. The guards never asked where we were from, what our names were, what orphanage we left to get there. They never found out what age we were, what conditions we might have had. There was no consideration for us. If that had been real and we had been released at some point, I do not know what would have happened. We likely would not have known where to go. We would have been labelled as runaways. The guards would not have known who to contact."

"The people at the camps weren't planning on letting us go," Dick said. Kaldur inclined his head in agreement.

Roy shook his head, "I don't understand. What else are the camps going to do once they cure metahumans?"

Kaldur shook his head, "I do not believe that they are planning on doing that either."

"Doing what? Curing metahumans? That's the entire point of the camps!" Roy said, brows furrowed.

"I know," Kaldur said slowly, "And yet, there was no evidence that they were going to ever let us go. From what Supersonic and Icicle said, there was a large chance that, had that been real, we would have died in those camps. Additionally, the conditions there are unbearable. For all that the public opinion of metahumans is generally negative, most people who disprove of metahumans would still find issue with the conditions they are being held in. Very few people would willingly condone that. If the Collection Agency were to let the metahumans go once they were 'cured,' the metahumans would be able to speak on how terrible the living conditions were. The Collection Agency would not allow itself to be ruined like that."

"So what I'm hearing," Roy said, equally slowly, "Is that we should be working towards abolishing the camps along with finding the mole, taking down the Light, and protecting us from an angry Circus." Dick shrugged helplessly at him. Roy groaned and buried his face in his hands.

For a long moment, the three sat in silence, contemplating their discussion. From the look on Dick's face, Kaldur was fairly certain that Batman was already investigating the camps, but there was only so much Batman could do on his own. The other Leaguers would need to get on board with the idea that the camps are actually bad. There was only so much Batman could do to convince the others.

Kaldur glanced slightly at the screen, watching as Diana wound down some sort of tale or another, Wally leaned close to the glass, one hand absentmindedly fingering his inhibitor collar. For a second, the two sat in silence. Connor's voice broke the silence, garnering the attention of the three teenagers in the room two floors above, "Why is your team called the Circus?"

Wally blinked at Connor for a moment before shrugging, "I mean, that's kind of what we are, isn't it? Circus's used to basically be freakshows, you know? The 'freaks' were people who were different from others for some reason or another and those differences caused others to hate them, to be repulsed by them, scared of them. Then ring masters would gather these freaks and put them on show for the _normal_ people. It was kind of a double-edged sword for the freaks. One the one hand, they were oftentimes horribly mistreated, abused, manipulated, and taken advantage of by the people in charge of the circus and their job was to be laughed at, ridiculed, or to horrify people by existing. On the other hand, it was a job for the freaks who would often just die because they couldn't get a job. It was something that shows the freaks can amount to something. Sure, the normal people were horrified by them and laughing at them, but the freaks had control for a little bit. They could control how people felt. They were in charge. They were showing the other freaks out there that there was hope, that they could do something, that no matter what you have to suffer through to get to that point, there is a point where you're standing on top of the world. And that's what we are."

Connor frowned, "I don't understand."

"Nor do I," Diana admitted with her own frown.

Wally grimaced, "I guess… look at it this way. Normal people are humans. Freaks are metahumans. Humans are afraid of us because of something we can't control, something we're born with or something that happens to us. So, they round us up and horribly mistreat us and parade us around."

"I do not understand how they parade you around," Diana said.

Wally's nose wrinkled as he thought for a second, "They parade our _image_ around, not our actual selves. They aggressively televise arrests of metahumans. They make sure that the only images of metahumans using powers is the huge, flashy, dangerous, damaging images. They tell stories about what happens in the camps and how well we're doing. They make the villain of every new movie a metahuman. They flaunt our freakiness to cater to the world's need for sensationalism. They especially like to report on groups like mine, tracking our movements and the damages we leave behind. The world likes to raise us up on this international stage and show people this image of how different we are, how dangerous, how mysterious. It sucks for us, but it gives others hope. It shows them that there are people fighting for them, that there are people out there who have the same problems and are willing to do something about it. It gives them hope when there isn't really a whole lot to have hope about. So, yeah. The Circus. That's where the name comes from."

Diana whispered, "That's incredible."

Wally laughed slightly, a little confused, "I don't understand. What's incredible?"

"You. Your team. Your message. I think just the name along, not even the actions, give hope to all who hear it. The 'freaks' as you called them, that had once been constricted to only Circus cts as a means of money, are now encouraged to receive jobs elsewhere. Some are even celebrated for their unique talents and gifts. That shows anyone who hears your name that they have a chance, that the freaks rose up once and got what they deserved. You will get this too."

For the first time since he woke up, Wally cracked a smile, "Thanks, Wonder Woman."

The three down in the cells devolved into further conversation while the three in a conference room two floors up sat in silence.

Eventually, Roy broke it, "It's hard to remember a time when I thought that the camps were genuinely good things and the metahumans deserved to be put in the camps."

Dick snorted, the sound a little sad to be anything but bitter, "Tell me about it."

"When all of this is over with the Light, when we have dealt with the things we need to deal with, we will address this issue. We will do something to change the conditions the metahumans are living in. We will need help, though," Kaldur said.

A voice came from the doorway, "If it's help, then I can get you that."

"Oliver?" Roy asked, instinctually scowling towards the door.

Oliver gave Roy a weak grin in return, "Yep. I can help you with the whole helping the metahumans thing if you want. I've got… stuff that'll help."

"What kind of stuff could you possibly have?" Roy questioned, eyebrow arched.

Oliver came further into the room, darting a furtive look towards the door. Dick quickly pulled up his glove computer and hacked into the HQ's server, taking out the cameras in the room. Oliver sent him a relieved smile before taking a bracing breath, "You guys were looking into the people who funded the Circus, right?"

Dick blinked, "Well, yeah. That was forever ago, though."

A mirthless smile touched Oliver's lips, "Yeah, I suppose so. Anyways, I'm one of the benefactors of the Circus."

Roy actually stumbled a little bit, letting go of Dick to sit down, hard, in a chair. Kaldur stared at him, open-mouthed in surprise. Dick managed to stutter out, "A-are you _serious_?"

Oliver winced, "Yeah. I've been funding them since they became operational a little over a year ago. I did some digging around and I was able to find some of the other benefactors. It's almost impossible to find the other names unless you're one of them. Unobtrusively, a group of us have been meeting on and off for the past year. We've been using our various positions to gather information from as many sources as possible for the treatment of metahumans in every country. It's obviously still a work in progress, but if we can get the Circus back on board with us, then we can try to get the information that the Alliance has. Maybe if we take down the Light and see what's going on with the Hackers, we could get them to help us, too. With all of that information, whatever Batman digs up, and your own friendships with the metahumans, we can really make a difference."

Kaldur shook his head slightly, "All of that is useless so long as the Light exists, and the Circus is against us."

"Well then," Oliver grinned, "Let's get the Circus back, then."

 **Author's Note: Side note – the name the Circus? Not actually from that whole long thing Wally explained. Well, kinda. That's how it evolved, but the first time I thought to myself, I should name this group 'The Circus' was immediately after I had watched the Greatest Showman and was driving home. I was like, bro. These people in the Greatest Showman were all freaks, but they became a family. Just like I want Wally and his metas to be. They should be called the Circus! And then I went and attached feelings to it over the time I wrote :P Also, this whole chapter? So not what I wanted to write. I have no clue what happened this chapter. I hope you enjoy it because I certainly don't, like what even. Thanks for reading!**


	35. Chapter 35

**Author's Note: Here we go! Hopefully this chapter is a little less disjointed after a week of relaxation, but I'm also rushing it out, so we'll see. Thanks for reading! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – I'm glad you like it so much! Thanks for the review!**

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Cameron was not made for this moment. He was not meant to be the one standing here, desperately trying to hold the Circus together as they tore themselves apart. Wally was supposed to be there, eyes narrowed slightly, taking a moment to just listen to what everyone was saying before he stepped in and started addressing concerns. His little frown would be there, the one that was reserved for when members of his family was fighting.

But it wasn't Wally that was there. It was Cameron trying to pull the Circus back together because Wally had gone missing. Well, since Wally had been taken by the Team. At least, that was the popular opinion. Cameron didn't want to believe that, but he did. There wasn't any other place that Wally could be. The only spot Wally would have stopped was at the Team's HQ and no one except Wally's Uncle Barry would have been able to catch him while he was running, so the only reason Wally could be missing right now was if the Team had captured him.

And that burned Cameron. It infuriated him and made his hackles rise instinctually. They've been helping the Team for weeks, for _months_. They gave up so much – Lorraine's body, a little bit more of Garfield's innocence, information about themselves, their spy. What did the Team give up? Nothing. And was the Circus violent or aggressive when they were absolving the alliance? No. They weren't. Then the Team goes and repays all of that by kidnapping the Circus's leader? Really?

Cameron couldn't let that bother him, couldn't let his own anger bleed over into the moment. With Wally's absence, he was acting leader and that meant that he had to approach this problem without any bias. He needed to disregard his own opinions while he listened to that of his teammates, only afterwards interjecting his own voice. He needed to encourage the others to speak peacefully and ensure that their thoughts were taken into consideration with the final decision.

That being said, it would be a whole lot easier to do that if the team wasn't screaming at each other. Cameron felt frustration tearing at him as he tried to get his voice heard over the sounds of squabbles all across the table. Billy and Jinx especially were at each other's throats, shouting not only opinions but obscenities at each other. Cameron wasn't even sure what point they were arguing. Garfield and Maser had tucked themselves into Kelvin's bulk, whisper-arguing at each other as Lorraine and Kelvin shouted each other hoarse over the younger metas' heads.

In the end, it wasn't Cameron who brought everyone to attention. It was Dinah. Her shoulders grew increasingly more tense, inching closer and closer to her ears before, finally, she snapped. Cameron only had a split second's warning before Dinah let loose a Canary Cry. Luckily, that split second was enough for Cameron to throw his hand over his ears, but unluckily, that didn't really do a whole lot against a Canary Cry. He still ended up reeling slightly in his spot, eyes instinctively scrunched closed.

He carefully blinked them open, noticing that the rest of the room was in significantly worse shape than he was, Kelvin and Garfield actually laid out – downsides of enhanced hearing. The room shakily got their bearings back, blinking carefully at each other and warily returning to their own seats, a silence settling like a balm over the room.

Dinah's lips were still pursed, expression terse. She turned to glare aggressively at Cameron, "You're the leader. Talk us through this." Her words were short and clipped, a clear sign of her fury.

Cameron swallowed nervously as the eyes of the rest of the group fell on him. He licked his lips and tried to stop the cold surrounding him from creeping further across the room in his agitation, "Okay, we're having a conversation right now to discuss only what we are going to do regarding Wally's situation. I'm going to preface the discussion by stating Wally's own opinion on the matter: he told me a while ago that if he were ever captured that we should just leave him because he could probably get out on his own. Now, I'm going to go from person to person. Each person is going to state their opinion on the matter, including an explanation if they so wish. They are _not_ going to call anyone else out while they're speaking. Dinah can go first."

With the ability to speak first, Dinah's shoulders fully unfurled from around her ears, voice quiet as if in apology, "I vote that we leave Wally where he is. You guys know me. You know that I'm normally the first person to try to rally us into going after someone because I never, ever want to see any of you hurt. But… in this case… I don't think the heroes are going to hurt Wally. I think he's almost safer where he is than he would be with us." Jinx snorted, but followed the rules of discussion and stayed quiet.

Cameron waited a second to see if Dinah had anymore to say, but she fell silent. He nodded to the next person, "You're up Kelvin."

Kelvin nodded back to him gratefully, "I agree with Dinah. Like she said, you know that the two of us are as protective as we can get over the rest of you. As much as we understand that you aren't really kids anymore and that you don't need to be treated like kids, we're always going to think of you all as our kids and we're going to fight tooth and nail to protect you like you were our own. But, the fact of the matter is that we're in the middle of something big here and I have to treat Wally like he's our leader, not like he's my kid. And I trust Wally's skill and intuition as my leader. I'll go with his opinion and wishes. I trust him to be able to escape if need be."

Nodding to the next person, Cameron said, "Your turn Lorraine." He figured he'd go roughly by age.

Lorraine bit her lip slightly, "I'm going to be honest and say that I feel a little bit out of the loop, especially for this last little bit of time. I don't know what the Team saw when they were in Wally's head. I don't know what you guys said or did when you were picking up Garfield and Billy. I know you guys didn't mean to leave me out, but you have been, so I'm not making my decisions based on all the information, okay? That being said, I say we go and get Wally. He would _never_ leave one of us behind, even if we begged him to. I get that he's the leader and whatever, so being self-sacrificing is basically written into his DNA, but it doesn't have to be that way. We need him to lead us. We need him to be here with us, with his family. I can't leave him there." She looked at Cameron imploringly, but he ignored it for the moment. It wasn't time to make a decision yet.

Looking over the last couple of people needing to speak, Cameron winced. Technically, if he was going by age, Jinx would be next (they were pretty sure she was the next oldest; some of them were a little nebulous on their ages). Deciding to avoid that bombshell until the end, Cameron said, "Billy, you're up."

Billy's voice was hard and firm when he answered, "Leave him. The Light needs to be stopped _yesterday_. We need to focus on that. Wally can get himself out." He left it at that, eyes dark with thought. He was in his Shazam form. He'd always claimed that it made him think better, something about the wisdom of Solomon or something like that. Cameron wasn't entirely certain.

He nodded to Billy before going to the next person, "Harold."

"I trust the heroes to treat Wally right. I mean, Hal at least will look after him. I know that Hal believes in us and won't let them mess with Wally. So, like Billy said, we should deal with the Light first," Harold said hesitantly, eyes skittering across the room before focusing back on his lap. Kelvin tucked the younger meta under his arm again.

Garfield spoke up before Cameron could even prompt him, "That's trash. We need to rescue Wally! Maybe Hal and the rest will 'treat him right' or whatever, but that doesn't really mean anything. It doesn't matter how well Wally is being treated. What matters is that he's family and he's been wrongfully imprisoned. We need to get him out of there!"

Cameron gave him a second, but when he didn't continue, he turned to the last person, "Jinx?"

Jinx's expression was dark, vaguely murderous, "I cannot believe all of you! We _can't_ leave Wally there! The heroes have been trying to capture us from day one of our creation! Now that the alliance is over, they have no reason to stop at him. They're going to come after us. Stopping the Light is not the most important problem at the moment. Getting Wally back from the _Team_ is what's important. The Light can wait."

Billy's voice was tense when he requested, "Permission to rebut?" Cameron nodded and Billy started off immediately, "I'm sorry, but you didn't see the Light. We need to deal with them immediately. Something that I was getting around to telling you guys is that the Big Day is coming soon. It's sometime around New Year's. We're running out of time to stop them from enacting their big scheme. I'd say that's pretty important."

"How do we even know that what they're doing is so bad?" Jinx asked, pink teasing along the edges of her fingertips. Cameron felt ice immediately coat his own fingers in response. He'd need to keep an eye on that.

Billy let out an incredulous laugh, "Are you serious? What have we been doing for the last several months? Why have I been undercover that whole time if what the Light is doing 'isn't that bad?' I mean, seriously Jinx! What are you even talking about? Of _course_ they're bad!"

Jinx's cheeks flushed magenta, "Maybe you just don't know what they really stand for! Do you even know where they came up with their name?" Cameron's eyes narrowed. This was the most that he'd heard Jinx talk about the time she'd been captured by the Light. He winced when he thought about it. He should have tried harder to get her to talk about what happened, should have focused more of his attention on her. The rest of the team was in a similar state to him, eyes narrowed, breathing quiet as they witnessed this battle of wills.

Eyes flicking around the rest of the group, Billy let out another incredulous laugh, this one weaker, "I don't understand why you're asking me this. For a moment, I thought this was just an idle conversation, an example to, like, prove something, but you're still going."

The pink around her hands flickered brightly for a moment before fading, some of the self-righteousness permeating her actions disappearing with the pink glow. Jinx sighed, "Look, I know this is the worst possible moment to bring this up, but it's important. The Light aren't as bad as we thought they were. They're actually really pro-meta. Their whole point is to show humanity 'The Light.' They say that the heroes are preventing humans from evolving into metahumans. Since heroes are constantly getting in the way of the big-bads, humans aren't getting the chance to fight back, and they aren't getting stronger. Humanity is weaker than it should be because the heroes are preventing them from growing. What happens when the heroes are gone, huh? When something takes them down? When they quit? Humanity will be _wiped out_. Unless they evolve. Like we have. Unless they evolve into something stronger, like us."

Kelvin put out a massive hand, "Wait, I'm sorry. Did you just say that the Light wants to turn everyone into metahumans?"

"Is that such a surprise? I mean, a lot of the main group of the Light are metas. The leader – Vandal Savage – is a meta. The Light wants to decrease humanity's dependency on heroes in order to make sure that we survive. _That's_ what the Light strives for. That's what they're doing. Is that such a bad thing?" Jinx asked, expression wide and earnest. Cameron wanted to puke. Was she… was she being serious?

Lorraine shook her head, horror written over her features, "Can we flashback to the little debacle where they split the world in two? When _hundreds of thousands_ of people died? Billions of dollars in property damage? My _paralysis_? How about another flashback: Wally _getting stuck in a horrible mind trap_? I mean, seriously Jinx? What are you thinking? They've done so many horrible things! Killed so many people!"

"We've killed people too!" Jinx threw back.

Lorraine laughed harshly, disbelievingly, "Some! A few! Because if we didn't kill them, they'd kill us! Not the way the Light did it. I mean, seriously? Hundreds of thousands of people dead, Jinx. You cannot tell me that they were all guilty of something, that they were a genuine threat to the Light. There were metas in camps who died. You heard Wally talking about it all, telling us about the kids who were dead in the camps, having fallen or died in the middle of an experiment. They've killed so many people. That's not what we do."

"People need to die for humans to fully evolve," Jinx said.

Cameron finally felt the need to fully step in, "That is _not_ how we think, Jinx. That is _never_ how we've thought. No one _needs_ to die. And do you know why we don't think that way? Because it would make us just as bad as the Collection Agency. They figured that some of us metahumans had to die to make the world safer, to find a cure, to finish whatever research they're doing, to build the camps. Some of us _had_ to die for their plans. Do you want to be like them?"

"That… that's not what I'm saying," Jinx stuttered softly.

Billy shook his head, "That's exactly what you're saying, Jinx. I don't know why you're suddenly so pro-Light, but I don't think you fully understand what they're like. I was undercover with them for months. Please trust me when I say that they're not good people."

Jinx shook her head, some of her fierceness trickling back in from somewhere, "You just don't understand."

"Because there's nothing _to_ understand!" Billy shouted, throwing his arms in the air. He glanced to Cameron, eyes pleading for some sort of help.

Cameron threw himself back into the conversation, "Jinx, as leader of the team, I'm putting my foot down. We are _going_ to stop the Light. They are not our allies. They are not on our side. They are not doing the right thing. At the very _least_ , they're not using the right means. My decision is final."

"You're not the leader," Jinx hissed.

Cameron felt that cheap shot right in his heart, glancing off the ball of stress that had taken residence there, wondering and fearing over where Wally was and if he was okay and how he was doing. He breathed through the hurt feeling, "I am the leader because Wally isn't here."

"Only because you're not willing to go and rescues him," she shot back.

Dinah cut in, "That was what we were trying to decide."

"And, based on the testimonies of the members of the team, Wally's own input, and my input, my final decision is that we are _not_ going to go rescue him immediately. Our priority is going to be taking down the Light," Cameron said, trying to get some semblance of control back from the downward spiral that the conversation had become.

Jinx _snarled_ at him, the suppressed pink glow flaring aggressively back to life around her fists. Billy and Lorraine, the two closest to her, backed away slightly. Cameron let the ice already gathered around his hands spread and release, creating a cool white mist that hovered over his clenched fists. Kelvin was drawing Garfield and Harold closer into himself, Dinah half out of her seat, hands loosely curling into fists.

Jinx glared around her, the whites of her eyes being overtaken by the same intense pink that surrounded her fists until they were two glowing points on her face, throwing the rest of her features into stressed relief. She grit out through clenched teeth, "What is this? Are you teaming up on me now?"

"We're not teaming up on anyone. You're scaring us, Jinx. Please release your powers. We can talk about this without the powers activated," Cameron said carefully. This conversation was far past his control at that point. He wasn't sure where this was going, wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

Jinx shook her head, a single tear, dyed pink by the light of her eyes, rolling down her cheek. She sobbed out, "Fine! If you can't believe me, I'll just have to show you! I'll get the Light to free Wally and then you'll see! I'll convince Wally! He'll believe me!"

"Jinx, what are you talking about? Please, just calm down. We're just going to talk this out. No shouting, no powers. Come on, Jinx, please," Cameron begged, vaguely hearing the others adding in their own pleas around him.

Wild pink hair shook again, a strand or two falling from her two gravity-defying horns of hair. Jinx took in a shuddering breath, skin turning a blotchy grey-brown-pink-magenta. Cameron couldn't tell if it was from stress, anger, or sadness. Probably a mixture. Maybe none at all. Cameron wasn't sure he could have ever said to have had any sort of grasp on Jinx's emotions. Wally seemed to be the only one who could really keep up with her.

Starting to really cry, Jinx pulled something out of a pocket. It was a strange device, dark and swirling and oozing this sense of evil that made the hairs on the back of Cameron's neck stand on end. Jinx sobbed as she took the device and smashed it into the ground, Billy letting out an aborted yell as the thing hit the ground.

It shattered there, a swirling red liquid sliding out of the remains, swirling tauntingly over the floor, shivering in what seemed to be delight when Garfield, who was closest to the strange liquid, flipped backwards, transforming into some sort of monkey and keening anxiously from his new spot swinging from the chandelier.

The swinging chandelier threw the room into twisting shadows, mocking them as the liquid spread out and swirled upwards, expanding and solidifying until a figure stood next to Jinx. The profile looked almost familiar and Cameron leaned forward for a second, thinking he could maybe… figure it out…

He didn't get the chance as his question was answered for him. The liquid shuddered for a moment before _shattering_ outwards, shards of it flinging out towards the others. Cameron frantically threw out a shield of ice, but the hardened liquid just slid through the ice, teasingly bumping into Cameron's skin, but not actually harming him. His heart pounded desperately in his chest.

There, standing next to Jinx with hooded eyes and a huge, terrifying grin, was Klarion the Witch Boy.

Cameron shook his head, "No, Jinx. Please. Please don't do this. Please tell me you didn't do this."

She was still crying, shaking her head, allowing Klarion to grab her hand and start pulling her back towards a huge swirling vortex of red, dark energy. She didn't say another word as she disappeared into the vortex.

And then she was just… gone.

BBBBBB

Barry was stressed. That seemed to be a general state of being for him after finding his nephew again. Those two things were probably connected.

Patrick put a careful hand on his arm, "Look, they'd tell you if something went wrong. At least, that Icicle would if no one else. It's fine."

"It's been over a _day_ and no one has contacted us to tell us what happened. Did they get their spy? Is Wally alright? Did he relapse or something? Are they mad at us? What's going on? _Why is no one contacting us_?" Barry was aware that his voice had gotten rather shrill by the end of that, but he was stressed, and he didn't care. He needed to vent. Well, he needed to know that his nephew was alright, but that wasn't really an option at the moment.

Patrick opened his mouth to say something else, but didn't get a chance. Ronnie skidded into the room, "Hey, that Icicle person is contacting us again. He wants a video chat between his team and our main group."

Barry's brow furrowed, "We told him that the whole video chat thing was a one-time only situation. We can't afford to do something like that again."

"He's insisting," Ronnie said with a shrug, "Said it was vitally important or something. Figured that we should have a conversation between all of us all at once rather than having to repeat the conversation and waste time."

"Did he say anything about Wally? Is Wally alright?" Barry asked frantically. What was going on that Icicle was so determined to meet up, that he felt he was so pressed for time?

Ronnie shook his head, "He didn't say. He just said he wanted the video chat."

Barry scrunched his nose, making a split second decision. He whipped over and grabbed Patrick, dragging him over to the control centre before returning for Ronnie and repeating the procedure. The others barely blinked at the abrupt entrance, but Patrick flipped him off, holding a hand over his stomach, still not entirely thrilled with being dragged around at superspeed, especially without warning.

Barry turned to Cisco, "Open up the video chat line, looking for Icicle's signal. I need to know what's going on with Wally." He addressed that line to the whole group, begging them to understand how he was feeling, the risks he was taking.

Everyone nodded back to him, understanding and empathy shining in their eyes, Iris coming over to wrap her arms around one of his. She rested her head on his shoulder and Barry tried to blow the nerves out of his body. He needed to get himself together. It was fine. Everything was fine.

The picture connected a second later, nothing but shadowy figures in the background. It was slightly easier to tell some of the people on the Circus's side. Ballistic was recognizable through his sheer bulk. Icicle's body shape was rough and spiked, making him distinctive as well. There was a monkey hanging from the chandelier that Barry assumed was Changeling. The rest of them weren't as recognizable. There also weren't enough of them. With the recovery of the spy, there should be more people. There should be _nine_ people. There were only seven (if that really was Changeling hanging from the chandelier). Why were there only seven?

"Icicle? What's going on?" Barry asked, trying to ask after Wally without making it obvious. He wasn't sure what all Wally or Icicle had told their team and therefore wasn't sure what the other members of the Circus would feel about Barry asking after their leader.

Icicle sighed, shoulders sagging, "I wanted to propose an alliance between the Circus and, well, the Alliance."

"I… what?" Barry asked. This was what the whole big deal was about? What about Wally? What was going on?

"The alliance between the Circus and the Team has been absolved and our focus is fully on taking down the Light. We need your help to get that done quickly."

Finally giving up on decorum, Barry asked frantically, "Icicle, please. What's going on? Why are there only seven of you there? Is Wally alright? Did you get Changeling out safely? What about the spy?"

Even though the images on the screen are dark and fuzzy, Barry can see the moment where Icicle physically deflates, shoulders shaking slightly. One of the others puts a careful hand on Icicle's shoulder, trying to help him pull himself back together. His voice isn't clogged with tears when he speaks, though. It's cold, icy in a way that goes beyond simple cliché and into terrifying. Barry feels his own voice freeze in his chest and the icy, unfeeling tone that Icicle uses, words clipped and matter-of-fact, "The Circus and the Team retrieved Changeling and the spy without issue. Upon returning to headquarters, the Circus and the Team had a disagreement and decided to absolve our alliance. The Team stated that the moment we left the headquarters, we would be considered criminals again. Wally ran all of us back to our base, but was arrested by the Team when he returned to grab the last of our things. Later, we had a disagreement among our own team about our next course of action and Jinx left the Circus to join the Light instead."

"It hasn't even been two days," Cisco muttered wonderingly. Barry couldn't help but agree. It had been _just_ over a day and it seemed like everything had fallen apart.

Barry shook his head, "Why aren't you trying to get Wally back?"

"He can rescue himself and we trust the heroes to not treat him badly. We need to focus on taking out the Light. Our spy says that the culmination of all of the Light's actions is happening soon. We need to stop them before that. Can we count on you to help us? Fully help us?" Icicle asked, voice still and emotionless in a way that would never not send an icy chill rushing down Barry's back.

Julian asked incredulously, "Are you asking us to fight?"

"Yes," Icicle answered instantly.

Caitlyn shook her head, "I'm sorry Icicle, but we don't fight. That's not what our organization is made for."

"Then the world is going to be destroyed. You need to get up and actually do something at some point. The Light needs to be stopped. We can't take them down without you," Icicle threw back.

Caitlyn spluttered a little bit, "I – that's… Icicle, you're asking for too much."

"I'm asking for the world's biggest threat to be stopped. I'm asking for a chance to save hundreds of thousands of people from dying. I don't consider that to be too much," Icicle said. There was finally a bit of inflection in his tone, but it wasn't one that Barry wanted. There was a hint of accusation in his voice, this little shift that said without saying that Icicle thought that since there were humans in the group that they weren't going to do the right thing. It made Barry sick to his stomach that Icicle would think that way, made him sick to his stomach to know that his nephew thought the same way.

Barry glanced around the group, saw the hardening resolve on each of their faces, took note of those who were slower to come to an opinion. In the end, though, everyone's face said the same thing. Glancing around them one more time and receiving a nod from each and every one of them, Barry nodded back. Turning to the screen, Barry took a deep breath and spoke for the entirety of the Alliance, "We'll fight."

 **Author's Note: Another chapter with a lot of dialogue, but we're getting somewhere here. We really are coming up on the big fight scene. I'm not sure how much clean up I'm going to do at the end, so I'm not sure how much longer this is going to be, but I'm definitely moving in towards the climax at this point! Thanks for reading!**


	36. Chapter 36

**Author's Note: I had a wonderful week back from spring break, so I hope that everyone else's week was just as wonderful! Read, review, and enjoy!**

BBBBBB

The Alliance really wasn't meant for fighting. They'd took a risky gamble and called an Alliance-wide meeting. It was the first time they'd ever had a meeting that included their entire organization. Since there were bases all over the world, they considered it too dangerous to have the video chats from all sections of the organization active at the same time. But they considered it worth the risk this time.

Barry had needed to tell the rest of his organization about what they'd decided. He'd announced the working alliance with the Circus first since he'd figured that would be easier to swallow for most of them. It hadn't been as easy for them to understand as he'd hoped.

There had been a lot of outrage, a lot of fear. Barry hadn't fully understood the effect introducing Wally as his nephew first had had on the rest of his team. The Circus was… it was a completely different entity from the vision of his nephew that Barry had built in his head. A lot of the base heads had brought up videos and news articles of things the Circus had done, the amount of damage they'd caused, the amount of deaths they had to their name. Most of all, the base heads brought up the Circus's reluctance to help humans.

Since the Alliance was made primarily of humans, that was a valid point of concern, one that Barry hadn't really contemplated, one that he _should_ have contemplated. It had taken a lot of conversation to convince them to work through that. Thankfully, they understood that the Light was a bigger threat than the Circus was at the moment. Still, that moment of realization, that moment when Barry realized that some of his people were actually afraid of his nephew's group, would stick with him for a while.

Oddly (to him at least), their reaction to the idea of needing to actually fight back against the Light was a lot tamer than he'd been expecting. They had seemed resigned. Apparently they'd recognized the need for it far before he himself had.

Still, their recognition and resignation didn't mean that they were already prepared. The base heads were struggling as much as he was. It was like he'd told Wally, like he'd told Icicle: the Alliance was not made for fighting. That just wasn't what they had been created for. Therefore, that also wasn't what they had been trained for or prepared for. They had a very minimal store of weapons, small amounts of battle gear. The scientific advancements they'd made had never really been towards making the members of the Alliance more battle ready. None of them were really trained to fight. Sure, a few of the higher-ups were pretty good fighters and sure, a good number of the spies knew enough self-defence to at least run away, but that wasn't nearly good enough.

The Circus was expecting them to help fight _armies_ , to help take down the Light. As far as anyone was concerned, the Light was the most dangerous criminal organization of the time, possibly _ever_. And Barry was going to have to send his people in to fight that organization with little to no training.

He'd brought that up to the Circus during their initial alliance talks, during the creation of the contract and they'd said that they had something of a solution. They hadn't elucidated on it at the time and Barry had been almost afraid to ask.

The Circus had been… not what he was expecting. Of course, he'd understood that the Circus had recently had a rough time of things, but he hadn't been expecting the cold efficiency of the group. It almost seemed like Icicle's frigid personality had spilled over to the rest of the team. It wasn't a good look on them.

Icicle had been the worst, obviously, to the point and blunt, no thought for anything that wasn't mission related. Black Canary and Ballistic had been almost as bad, but they'd been more visibly softer towards their own members where Icicle seemed just as cold no matter who he spoke to. Shazam seemed stressed, his no-business attitude seeming to derive from whatever knowledge he'd gotten from the Light. It still disturbed Barry that the Circus had put only one person undercover with the Light, but Shazam's confidence and skills made him feel a little better. At least the Circus hadn't put a kid undercover. Firehawk was openly suspicious of the humans in the room, hackles up whenever one of them came to close, eyes narrowed whenever one was speaking. It wasn't the best working environment, but Barry knew that they didn't have the time to address it. Despite how suspicious Firehawk was, it was Changeling and Maser's reactions that broke his heart. They weren't necessarily _suspicious_ of the humans, they were just _scared_ of them.

Sure, the two metahumans weren't all that _openly_ afraid of the humans, but they would flinch if one got too close and they'd edge towards the middle of the group of metahumans rather than sit closer to a human. It was a fear that they were trying to not show. Barry wasn't sure if that was out of respect to the Alliance or if it was because they didn't want the humans to know that they were afraid or if it was something else entirely, but he also knew that there was a good chance that he'd never know why. He just had to come to terms with that even if it hurt to see that.

"Incoming," Iris said softly, getting Barry's attention.

He looked up to see that there was a video coming into focus on the screen – Icicle had just hailed them.

His voice was just as cold as it had been when he spoke over the connection, "Alright, we've got a solution for your training. Obviously, we're getting close to the Big Day, so there isn't a ton we can do, but we can still do something. I believe that Wally told you once that the people who we rescue who don't want to go back out into the world are considered reserve members of the Circus. Our idea for a solution would be to send a group of them to each of your bases and they can train your members. We could either move the groups to a centralized location for you to bring over to your bases or you could tell us where the bases are, and we'll put a teleporter with each group and have the teleporter bring them into the base."

"You have enough teleporters for that?" Stein asked incredulously.

Icicle shrugged a little bit, "Sort of? Most of them aren't conventional teleporters, but their powers can be used in a way that approximates teleportation. It'll take a while either way just because the bases are spread out all over the world, but I figured I'd let you decide whether you wanted to give us locations or not."

Patrick spoke before Barry got a chance to, "And what about your city?" Barry glanced at Patrick sharply. They'd agreed to not talk to the Circus about that and instead respect them to tell them at their own time. It had been made pretty apparent to the Alliance that the Circus had to have some kind of city set up. They had held the kids rescued from the camps _somewhere_ and they insisted that they had somewhere where the kids could stay. It hadn't sounded like they had a bunch of reserve members spread out across the world who could take heroes in. It had sounded like some sort of location where they held all of their reserve members. It really hadn't been that hard to figure out, but the Alliance still didn't know where it was or anything like that. They couldn't really do much with the information that they'd gathered.

Icicle's voice, _somehow_ , went even colder than it had been before, "What about my _what_?"

The rest of the Alliance glanced around at each other nervously. Barry spoke quietly, trying to diffuse the situation, "We don't really know anything. We just figured that you had to have some sort of city set up to keep your metahumans safe."

"Is that so?" Icicle asked, sending shivers down Barry's spine. Barry swallowed harshly and couldn't quite stop the little voice in his head that said that Icicle would make a _great_ villain with a voice like that.

Patrick spoke next, interrupting Barry and ignoring Iris's frantic 'stop talking' symbols, "Look, I'm just trying to help. If you're sending all of your fighters out to come train us, then how are you going to protect your own city? They need protection, don't they? Especially the kids that you rescued from the camps not that long ago. They really need protection. I'm just trying to say that you should make sure that you can protect your own people."

There was a slight softening in Icicle's tone, the smallest hint of warmth, when he said, "Since there's obviously no point trying to convince you that there isn't a city, I'll go ahead and tell you that the kids will be fine. At the moment, we're moving the city. The current location was compromised by the Light earlier on in our investigation. Since we're making such a big move against the Light, we can't afford to have the city taken as collateral, so we're moving it. The newly freed, the doctors, the prisoners, and the prison guards will all be on the move with most of our supplies and essentials. All of them know how to fight. The kids will be fine. So will the rest. We need to focus on keeping _your_ people alive, since they'll be the ones fighting. Which, by the way, the people that I'm assigning to each of your bases will be staying during the fighting, too. They'll be there to fight against whoever they need to fight against when the time comes."

Barry narrowed his eyes, "You're not going to send us any children, are you?"

Icicle's tone was slightly confused, "Of course some of the people I'm going to send you are children. I mean, we don't have a ton of children at the city. At least, we hadn't before we'd freed the kid campers. But if they're not too young and if they're not newly freed, then they're going to go fight."

Iris put a hand over her mouth, "You can't send kids to fight!"

"This is their battle, too!" Icicle said, voice worn like he'd somewhat expected this conversation, but still didn't want to have it. He sighed, speaking again after a second, "Look, we're not going to send anyone that's too young to fight, but the fact of the matter is that most of us _aren't_ children any more. If they've had to be rescued by us, then there's a good chance that they don't feel like children any more, especially if they're good enough to fight."

"We are _not_ going to send kids to fight!" Iris said again, this time more forcefully, standing up fully to face Icicle.

Icicle groaned, "You're fine with us fighting!"

"Define _fine_ ," Cisco muttered quietly to himself, but it didn't seem like Icicle heard him.

Iris was still going, eyes blazing, "You are trained! And you're going to fight anyways!"

"How is that any different from what's going to happen with these kids? They're all trained! They're all going to fight whether or not they're with you. I mean, what else are they supposed to do? This is a fight for their right to live, a fight for the promise of being able to live safely in their city again, a fight to keep their families alive. They're going to want to fight and they're going to fight whether we say they can or not. That's just a fact."

Barry lips pursed, "I understand that, but can you at least understand why we are uncomfortable with this?"

The shadowy projections shown by the cameras the Alliance used made it impossible to tell what expression Icicle was wearing, so it came as surprise when he laughed quietly. Barry exchanged startled looks with the people around him. That was not the reaction they had been expecting. Icicle's small chuckled ended pretty soon after he began and he said softly, "Sorry, it's just… nothing. It's nothing. Just that Wally was right."

"About what?" Barry asked, keeping his voice just as soft. He liked it when some of the Circus members dropped comments about Wally. He'd missed so much of his life, so it was nice to hear about the parts that he missed. Of course, most of them only talked about the most recent year since that was the only time that they really knew each other and Icicle never really talked about Wally, but still. It was more than Barry would have gotten to know.

Icicle shook his head, "About you. He really was happy that he got to meet you guys again. Freaked him out at first. He wasn't sure how to react with you guys in his life, but… he was happy in a way that I don't see often." He shook his head again. Barry wanted to say something, anything, but his words were stuck in his throat, clogged in the tears he couldn't shed. Icicle let out another little laugh, this one sadder, before he finally said, "Anyways, let's get back to the matter at hand. You're going to have kids fighting for you. That's non-negotiable. There aren't a lot of them, though. Just so you know. So, how do you want them to get to you?"

Barry coughed a little bit, trying to get his composure back, "Uh, how many will there be?"

"A little over a thousand," Icicle answered.

Cisco choked a little bit from behind them, "A little over a _thousand_? How many people have you rescued?"

"That's not important right now. How are they getting to your bases? We need to get to work as soon as possible," Icicle said, back to his all-business tone.

Barry winced at the loss of what little warmth they'd managed to coax out of him, "I'll pick them all up. I know that we're supposed to be working together and all that, but my people… they don't, uh, quite trust you."

"Understandable. I'll send you the location where you'll be meeting them. They'll already be separated into groups. Go ahead and bring each group to whichever base you want. I'm going to go back to other planning," Icicle said. He didn't wait for anyone to respond, instead just letting the camera shut off. A second later, Cisco got a secure transmission that held a set of coordinates.

"I know that I'm the worst person to judge another person's attitude, but he needs to pull himself together and stop shutting out the people around him. He's only going to bring himself, his team, and _us_ down with him," Julian said, shaking his head before moving away.

Barry winced in agreement. Icicle was obviously hurting and afraid and worried, but this wasn't the right way to deal with it. Barry wondered once again about what kind of therapy the Circus members had gone through, what kind of healing they've done. It didn't seem to have been enough.

Still, Icicle was right about one thing. They really did need to get going. The Big Day was only growing closer and they needed to be ready in time for it to happen.

With that in mind, Barry zipped into his suit. He took a moment to read over the coordinates one more time.

And then he _ran_.

KKKKKK

"There is absolutely no reason for the Light to have seemingly stopped their actions," Kaldur complained, dropping his head in his hands.

This was a scene that had played out several times over the past month. Whenever Wally's guards reported that he was starting to get snappish or whenever Kaldur felt the need to vent, he'd go to Wally's cell, dismiss his current guards, and then they'd talk for a little bit.

On that particular occasion, it was Kaldur's stress that had started the conversation. The Circus and the Light had completely disappeared. There was no sound from either of them. Kaldur would say that the Alliance had disappeared too, but they were already so underground that the Team had had zero knowledge of their existence, so it wasn't that much of a surprise that there was no noise about their actions.

At the moment, Kaldur was stressing about the Light's disappearance. He wanted to talk about the Circus's silence, too, but he was not sure how that would go with Wally. He did not want to worry his friend, nor did he want to talk about the Circus when Wally had already admitted to him that he missed them terribly. He'd mentioned missing the Alliance, too, which Kaldur didn't entirely understand. Wally had known the Alliance for a very small amount of time. How had he grown to miss them so much?

To be honest, whenever Kaldur thought about that, he grew jealous. The Circus's and the Team's alliance was able to fall apart over the course of an afternoon, the arrangement so destroyed that even now Wally was shorter with the members of the Team, openly suspicious with anyone who wasn't Kaldur, Hal, or, surprisingly, Oliver. Well, maybe it wasn't so surprising once Kaldur thought back to Oliver's reveal. Of all the people Kaldur had expected to be one of the benefactors of the Circus, Oliver had never been one of them.

He remembered the screaming match that he and Roy had gotten into later in their discussion. For all that they were working towards the same goals and for all that Roy had left their partnership, Roy was still furious that Oliver had been keeping more secrets from him, especially for so long. The two were currently Not Talking.

Wally's voice brought Kaldur out of his thoughts, "My guess is that they're getting closer to the big showdown or whatever. If you want my advice, then I say prep the troops for a battle. Get together with any other teams or heroes or whatever that are out there. Put them on the alert for trouble. Get ready for the endgame. All that kind of stuff." He hesitated for a moment before saying quietly, "I could help."

Kaldur sighed, shoulders sagging, "You know why I cannot allow that to happen."

"You cannot tell me that you don't have tech that will track me and make sure I have to come back. The fact of the matter is that the Circus has more information than you and, at the moment, you're just going to be going into all of this blind. No one wants that for you," Wally argued.

"How do you know that the Circus has more information than us?" Kaldur countered.

Wally rolled his eyes, "We have Billy. He was undercover for a long time. Plus, he was due for another info dump, so he definitely has information that I hadn't gotten yet. Plus, based on what the others have been saying, the Circus has gone silent. That tells me that they know what's going on and they're preparing. If you let me help, I could get that information, make sure you actually survive this."

Kaldur shook his head, "I cannot."

Jaw clenching, Wally turned his head to the side mulishly. He sighed, "You're making a mistake."

Carefully, Kaldur pointed out, "Perhaps. I believe that you made the first one, though."

Wally huffed slightly, not quite a laugh, but not angry. He opened his mouth, presumably to say something else, but they were both interrupted by a large explosion. There was a short, cut off scream before an eerie silence overtook the building. Wally's eyes widened as he stood up quickly, "Kaldur, let me out. Please let me out. Please let me help. _Please_ , Kaldur. I'll willingly walk back into this cell, but please let me out."

Kaldur ignored him, running out towards the higher floors. M'gann and Zatanna were the only ones who were in the headquarters today, besides Kaldur of course. Zatanna sometimes woke up feeling depressed, brought low by the thought of her father being trapped by Nabu. M'gann had stayed home from school to be there for her through the bad day. They had originally been watching over Wally, but he'd sent them away to talk to the speedster.

When Kaldur reached the kitchen, all he saw was a smoking ruin. There were piles and piles of rubble, the occasional sharp burst of metal showing the resting place of some appliance or another. Voice tight with worry, Kaldur called out carefully, "Miss Martian? Zatanna?"

For a second, there was no sound, but then there was a low groan. Quickly, Kaldur raced over to the sound, finally spotting a length of black, silky hair trailing back into the rubble. Lying next to the hair was the faintest hint of a green face.

Kaldur knelt down and started carefully removing larger chunks of the rubble. M'gann blinked blearily at him. Her face was smeared chalky grey with rock dust, a bright red line cutting across her face from a cut near the side of her chin. Zatanna was completely buried. Kaldur managed to get a good portion of the rocks off of M'gann's head and chest area.

She freed a hand carelessly, ignoring the sharp piece of metal that cut a line into her arm. She grabbed Kaldur's arm, whispering, "You have to stop them. They're… they're going after Supersonic. You… have to… have to stop… them." She faded out of consciousness at that point, not reacting at all when Kaldur called her name.

Growling to himself, Kaldur stood up. These two needed help, but… he couldn't let Wally get hurt either. He might be a prisoner, but he was also Kaldur's friend. He couldn't just leave Wally to the mercy of whoever had blown up this building. Still… he couldn't leave the girls. Getting out his comms device, Kaldur spoke frantically into it, "This is Aqualad requesting immediate back-up. The Team's Headquarters have been attacked. Miss Martian and Zatanna are both down. Miss Martian is alive, but badly injured. Zatanna's state is currently unknown. The number of enemies as well as the organization they belong to is currently unknown. I am pursuing the enemies now. I will work to ensure the safety of the prisoner. Please send back-up immediately."

He turned his part of the comms off, trying to tune out the sound of the Justice League frantically pulling people together. Apparently, the zeta beams leading to the Team's headquarters had been damaged. It was a good strategy for the enemy, but inconvenient for Kaldur. With the Swamp Thing currently refusing contact with the Justice League, Hawkman and Hawkgirl in Connecticut helping the Atom, and Superman (the only hero who doesn't live in Louisiana, but would be fast enough to get their regardless) off-world on the same mission that took Green Lantern away, it would be a while before Kaldur got any backup.

Kaldur acknowledged all of this in one part of his mind, the rest focused on his surroundings. He couldn't afford to be caught unawares right now.

Luckily, there were no attacks on his way to the cells. Unluckily, there was a choked off scream right before Kaldur could get to the cells. Whoever had attacked this base was already at the cells.

Kaldur crept around the corner, being careful to not alert the enemies that someone was onto them. He took a second to understand the scene in front of him.

First and foremost, Wally was alright. His eyes were wide, and he was set in a defensive stance, a man crumbled to the ground in front of him, but he was unharmed. Then there were the rest of the people there. It was a conglomeration of people Kaldur didn't recognize. They all seemed to be utilizing some sort of power or another, hinting towards them all being metahumans. Kaldur felt his breathing even out as he looked at the group of them, felt himself calm as he prepared to fight.

Kaldur squinted slightly when he saw who was leading the group. That was… that was Tuppence Terror, the other half of the Terror Twins. She was growling something at Wally, "You need to come with us immediately. We're here to help you escape."

Wally gave a short, bitter laugh, "Excuse me? You just tried to attack me!"

"You were resisting!" Tuppence shouted.

"Of course I was resisting! I don't even know who you are? What even is your name?" Wally shouted, eyes darting around the room, trying to find a break in the formation, a chance to escape. His eyes skipped over Kaldur, returned briefly to him, and then skipped away again, not giving Kaldur away.

Tuppence growled out, "I'm Tuppence Terror and the Light sent me to rescue you!"

In his surprise, Wally relaxed a little bit, eyes wide with shock, "Terror?"

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?" Tuppence sneered.

Wally shook his head, putting his hands up, "No, no! Of course not. Just… with the state Tommy is, I had assumed that you were going to be locked up somewhere being tortured or something. I hadn't realized that you were going to be free and still just operating on the Light's instructions."

Tuppence faltered slightly, "You know Tommy?"

"Yeah, the Circus is taking care of him right now. I mean, he's technically a prisoner, but we're taking care of him. I think he's actually started dating one of his guards which is a little weird to me, but whatever. I won't judge," Wally said with an easy, casual shrug.

Shaking her head frantically, Tuppence let her arms down, blinking, "They said… they said that Tommy had been taken by the heroes, that they'd captured him when he wasn't even doing nothing, when he was just relaxing with a girl. They ain't said nothing about no Circus taking him prisoner." Her accent grew thicker as she spoke longer, blue eyes bright and scared in her face.

Wally shook his head, expression crumpling with her, "That's not what happened at all. My people apprehended Tommy when he showed up unannounced in our space. We put power dampeners on him and cuffed him to a chair. When I showed up, he broke the cuffs and attacked me. I managed to hit a pressure point and knock him out. We got cuffs that could hold him since the power dampeners and tranqs weren't working. I tried to ask him where you were because we assumed that he'd be saying you'd come rescue him, but he got mad when we brought you up, seemed to react when we asked if the Light was holding you hostage. He mentioned to a guard a couple weeks later that the Light was threatening you and that he had to do this for you. We've been trying to find you to bring you to him, but we never caught wind of you."

"That can't be true. That… that can't be. The Light…" Tuppence didn't finish her sentence, instead shaking her head in frustration, expression steeling.

She didn't give him any more warning than that, simply lunging forward without a word. Wally yelped, throwing his hands up and hissing out a breath when Tuppence's punch sent him flying against the other wall. He hissed again as he tried to stand up.

Kaldur figured that was as good a time as any to join the fight. He surged forward, hitting one of the men closest to him with one of his water bearers. He spun and whacked the other before anyone could react, throwing in some electricity to really make it count. Wally was staring at him, wide-eyed and shocked as he sat, still crumpled to the ground, trying to stand.

Kaldur easily spun through a few more targets, taking them out with well-practiced moves. All he needed to do was get through them all before they could react. He'd grab Wally and run. He just needed to take them all out.

Of course, it'd be right about then that he ran out of luck. Something slammed into him from behind, sending him sprawling on the ground, one wrist bending awkwardly underneath him. Glancing behind him, he saw that one of the men he'd thought was knocked out had stretched out his arm to hit him, the arm made out of something impossibly strong. How did that even make sense?

Rolling to the side, Kaldur tried to stand up. He had to awkwardly half-sit against the wall and strike out at the attackers for a second before he was able to give himself enough room to fully stand up.

When he finally got to a standing position, he realized that Wally had done the same. Wally pulled out a roundhouse kick, making a pained noise as it bounced harmlessly off of Tuppence's side. She growled and swung at him. He ducked below the hit, stepping closer and striking out at her. She blocked him, causing him to let out another pained noise as her forearm hit his wrist. He hobbled back a step or two, eyebrows furrowed, expression tight.

Kaldur leapt to go help him, but he was blocked by the people in front of him. Groaning, Kaldur through himself at his opponents again. He needed to get to Wally, needed to get him away from Tuppence.

He fought against the rest of the metahumans, grunting occasionally when one landed a hit, but he was winning. Wally was still facing off against Tuppence, not letting out any more pained noises, but still occasionally grunting with the effort of the attacks. It was painful to hear him like that, but not be able to help him, especially knowing that M'gann and Zatanna were helpless under the rubble. Kaldur was failing _all of them_. He needed to do something. He needed to at least save Wally.

He didn't get there in time.

Kaldur had just defeated a final opponent. The only enemy left in the headquarters was Tuppence. But the person in front of him fell and revealed Tuppence standing there, Wally's throat held in her grasp, his feet dangling uselessly off of the floor. He was scrabbling for purchase at her arm, striking out, kicking out when using his arms didn't work. He choked on air he didn't have.

Kaldur took a step forward, raising his water bearer threateningly. Tuppence moved slightly back, eyes narrowed, no doubt remembering the last time Kaldur defeated her and her brother.

Then Kaldur was struck again. All he saw was a flash of pink light from next to him and then the roof was caving down on him, slamming him into the ground and knocking the air out of his lungs in one fell swoop. He coughed, grunting out a curse. He could just barely see through the rubble, rock dust swirling in the air and mixing with the black spots in his vision.

Wally was screaming, "Aqualad! Aqualad, are you alright! _Jinx_! What are you doing?" He coughed from where Tuppence was still holding him.

Jinx shoved into Tuppence with her magic, eyes glowing. Tuppence growled at her and Jinx growled right back, "You weren't supposed to hurt him! You were supposed to get him out safely!"

"He fought back," Tuppence grunted, unceremoniously dropping Wally. The speedster grunted out another cough, curling his arm protectively around himself.

Jinx dropped to her knees next to him and he flinched. The stricken expression on Jinx's face would haunt Kaldur for the rest of his days. She looked so hurt, so shocked. Wally coughed again, rasping out, "What are you doing? Why are you here with members of the Light? What's happening Jinx?"

Swallowing, Jinx gasped out, "Please, just trust me for a moment. Please come with me."

Wally was already shaking his head, "I can't Jinx. I can't go with you. Why are you with the Light? What's going on? Where's the rest of the Circus?"

Tuppence called out from slightly down the hallway, "There are Justice League members incoming. We have to go."

"Please come with me. Please don't resist. Please, please, please," Jinx begged, reaching out to grab Wally's hands in her own.

He ripped his hands back, horror spreading out over his face, desperately shaking his head even as he winced at the movement, "You can't do this Jinx. I'd rather stay here than go with you. I would _always_ rather stay here than go with you if you're going to be with them."

Jinx's eyes filled with tears. She took a deep breath, tripping on a sob at the very end of it. She started crying, reaching out to desperately pull Wally in for a hug. His breathing picked up and he tried to push her away, but he also obviously didn't want to hurt her. Jinx let out one more loud sob before lightly touching Wally's forehead, finger glowing pink, and she said, "Peels ot og." Wally was asleep almost before she finished the last word.

SSSSSS

Savage glanced at the camera idly. Luthor was sitting next to him, his expression avidly caught on the screen.

The speedster was still sleeping, shoulders relaxed, but expression tense. Jinx was holding vigil at his bedside, hands wringing together, tear stains still marring her features. Savage knew that halfway across the world, the Team had returned to a destroyed headquarters, Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Zatanna injured, their prisoner escaped.

Savage allowed a small smile to curl over his face, "Our pieces are finally in their proper places."

 **Author's Note: And there we are! Finally some action! Haha, thanks for reading guys!**


	37. Chapter 37

**Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! Thanks to everyone who reviewed: you got me through a rough week :P Read, review, and (most importantly) enjoy!**

WWWWWW

Wally groaned as he finally sat up. He blinked in confusion for a second, recognizing that there was something wrong with his surroundings, but not entirely awake enough to realize _what_ was wrong. He blinked again, frown deepening when he realized that he wasn't in his cell. Well… that was good?

He glanced to the side and saw a camera aimed at him, the door solid steel with more locks on it then Wally had ever seen on a door, and a cuff leading from his leg to the bed he was laying on. Wally reached up and felt a new, sleeker version of the inhibitor collar wrapped tight around his neck. He'd already known that it was there, could feel the heavy weight around his neck, could feel the empty hole where his powers normally were, that aching emptiness that had been haunting him for the last month.

Eyes closing, Wally tried to quell the swell of nausea that rose when he thought about that gaping wound in his soul, when it inevitably reminded him of the camps, when he got brief flashes of the mind trap. He let out a shuddering breath. This wasn't the camp. This might not be the heroes and he might not have been afforded the kindness of a floor to ceiling glass door, but this wasn't the camp. He wouldn't be isolated like this. He wouldn't be wearing such soft prisoner clothes. He probably wouldn't have been cleaned up and bandaged from his fight (more like one-sided annihilation) with Tuppence. So, not in the camps.

Then where was he?

The memories of the finale of his demolition rushed back the second the door opened with Jinx standing there, cheeks flushed and eyes wide. She was carrying a tray of some sort in her hands. Jinx cursed, rushing over, "I _knew_ it! I _knew_ that the second I walked away, you'd wake up. Just my rotten luck." She practically threw the tray (Wally saw that it was covered in food and his stomach rumbled at the sight) onto a nearby table, moving closer, hands fluttering slightly above Wally before they dropped dejectedly. Jinx swallowed, closing her eyes and taking in a short breath before sitting down in a chair that Wally hadn't noticed in his earlier assessment of the room. So he wasn't that observant, whatever.

Wally closed his eyes, leaning back against the bed. He tensed his face, feeling none of the usual resistance from his cowl; they'd taken it off. Even the Team had afforded him the respect of letting him keep his mask on. Wally sighed heavily, "What have you done, Jinx?"

Her voice was fierce when she answered, but Wally wouldn't open his eyes to look at her, "I did what had to be done! The Circus are on the wrong side of this battle and I don't want to see them be hurt! I don't… I don't want my family to be hurt. You know that Wally, don't you?"

"Then why did you leave the Circus? Why did you send the Light's goons to take me out? Where's my mask? Why are you calling me by my real name?" Wally asked, rapid fire. He only realized after he said it that his wording was kind of cruel. He winced internally, but still didn't open his eyes to face her. He was too disappointed to look at her right now.

Jinx's firm tone didn't waiver, "I left the Circus because they didn't understand. They weren't listening to me. The _heroes_ poisoned them to the point that they were willing to _hurt_ me! I knew that the only way to convince them that they need to join the Light before it's too late was to convince you first. They'll listen to you. And I didn't mean for them to hurt you. They weren't _supposed_ to. But then, you weren't really supposed to resist anyways. Why did you resist? We were rescuing you!" Wally stayed silent, heart sinking in his chest. What had the Light done to her? Jinx continued after a second, "They… they said that they needed your mask off to check your head injury. I, um, I didn't quite catch you in time when you fell asleep. You were heavier than I expected, and I dropped you and you hit your head. And with your powers, you know, you weren't healing super fast, so they had to check your head and bandage up your wounds. They won't tell anyone! I made them swear that the doctors won't spread your identity and the people on watch won't spread it either!"

"If you're trying to convince me to their side, the handcuffs, locked door, and _inhibitor collar_ aren't the best ways to do it," Wally spat out, anger twisting away at his insides. He'd had rather taken the damage an untreated head wound would cause him over the Light knowing his secret identity.

"Wally, please. Just… just let me talk, okay? You're still my leader and-," Jinx started.

Wally cut her off, jaw clenched, "No, I'm not still your leader. You _left_ the Circus, Jinx. That means that you're not part of the Circus anymore and I am therefore no longer your leader."

Jinx groaned in frustration, that fire coming back to her voice, "You're not listening to me again!" She cut herself off, a swooshing noise taking over, a loud crash echoing afterwards. She'd just used her powers to break something, probably. Wally ignored it. It wasn't his stuff she was breaking. She calmed down pretty soon after that, sitting down again forcefully. She whispered, "Can you just look at my Wally, please? I'm not asking as a member of the Circus. I'm asking as someone who's scared and needs the person who rescued me from the worst part of my life." And Wally could never say no to that.

He opened his eyes and stared balefully at her. He felt bad projecting his disappointment onto her, but it was the only thing he could hold onto right now. He couldn't quite feel angry at this girl who'd had nothing but bad hands dealt to her and he couldn't quite feel sad because, on some level, she'd done this to herself.

She flinched under his looks, but rallied quickly, "Here, I brought food for you. This should be enough." Wally sighed, reaching out for the food and mechanically starting to eat it, still not saying anything. Jinx's eyes closed, "Wally, you _have_ to hear me out."

"And you need to figure out who you are," Wally threw back.

Jinx blinked at him, "…What?"

"You heard me," Wally continued, "This isn't you! And _no_ , I'm not just talking about you joining up with the Light or whatever. I'm talking about how you're acting! You aren't some _lackey_ sent to get your friends to join up to flesh out numbers. You aren't some passionate freedom fighter working your butt off to make a change. You're softer. Your interests are harder to find and your passion is gentler. This _begging_ , this desperation? This isn't you, Jinx. And anyone who made you think it was is lying to you."

She just stared at him, mouth slowly closing. Her cheeks went bright magenta, a motley of brown and grey spiralling around the edges, the blush spreading the more she sat there. Her fingernails scraped against her thighs, digging into the black fabric there. Wally closed his eyes, tiredness settling in, "Maybe you're right about the Light. Maybe you're wrong. Either way, you're not on the same side as your family. And you're not on the winning side, either, no matter what they tell you. That doesn't matter. Just… just figure out what you want. Ignore all of the other people telling you what to do. Just do what you want to do. If you don't… then why did we escape the camps?" He started slipping further into unconsciousness, breathing slowing.

Jinx made a curious noise, "Wally? Are you okay?"

"M'just tired," he mumbled back, not entirely aware anymore.

He did recognize that Jinx's voice became more panicked in response, "What? You just woke up! You should have woken up feeling completely refreshed. Wally? Wally! Wa-,"

He faded into sleep.

KKKKKK

Kaldur nursed his broken wrist. Honestly, he was lucky to only obtain that much – aside from some minor bruising and cuts. Miss Martian had managed to morph her body into something much more flexible and less susceptible to damage during the initial explosion, which allowed her to escape with minimal damage, but Zatanna was facing a broken leg and a broken arm, her ribs crushed and lungs bruised. She had a concussion and was currently in a medically-induced coma. The doctors were optimistic about her recovery, but still. It wasn't good. It wasn't what any of them wanted.

He wasn't surprised when he heard two sets of footsteps racing towards his room. It was why he'd gone to his room instead of somewhere other people were likely to be disturbed. Dick and Roy came racing in, physically deflating with relief when they spotted him alive and (mostly) well. Dick asked raggedly, "What happened? All the League is telling us is that there was a break-in and you, M'gann, and Zatanna were injured!"

Kaldur sighed, "The Light came here to take Supersonic. Jinx was with them."

Roy punched the wall, "Are you serious? All that trash with them accusing me of being the spy and Jinx is with the Light this whole time?"

"We do not know how long she has been with the Light! I do not believe that she has been there for very long. She had no rapport with the people who came to take Supersonic and Supersonic himself seemed shocked at her siding with the Light. My guess is that the Light truly got to her when they took her captive a while ago," Kaldur answered calmly.

"Or she's the spy!" Roy growled.

Dick shook his head, "Hate to say it, but the spy was already doing stuff before we even knew the Circus was onto the Light. There's no way that Jinx is the spy, or, at least, the only one."

Roy shook his head, "I don't like this. How do we know that the whole Circus isn't in on it? They got us to a secure location, got us to lower our guards, got us to let them take a bunch of metas, freed all those meta kids during the world-splitting event, managed to get Wally away while disabling some of our members."

Dick opened his mouth to respond, but a voice from the door stopped them, "We know that the Circus isn't in on this because they aren't like that." It was Hal standing there, an intense expression on his face.

Roy sneered at him, "Yeah right. We don't know that! We know nothing about them! Maybe everything they tried to convince us about metas was wrong!"

"They're good people!" Hal shouted back.

Voice lowering into a nastier pitch, Roy growled, "Oh, right. I forgot. You're all buddy-buddy with the Circus, right? You suddenly got real close to them. I think Supersonic or someone said that you knew the identities of pretty much all of the Circus or something like that. Shmoozing up to them? What's your angle?"

"Roy!" Kaldur warned.

He didn't listen, continuing to goad the Green Lantern, "You're just as bad as Oliver! You know what he was doing, don't you? I bet you were in on it, too!"

"What are you talking about? What did Ollie do?" Hal asked, mask and suit melting off as it became clear hat this conversation was going to be longer than expected.

"What's going on?" A different voice asked from the doorway. Kaldur sighed when he realized that it was Oliver standing there. Because this situation couldn't get any worse. Dick had retreated to the safety of Kaldur's bed and was waiting out the storm with him there.

Roy snarled at Oliver, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I heard my name being shouted at my best friend, what do you think I'm doing here?" Oliver demanded. Kaldur's eyes widened when he realized how tense Oliver's shoulders were. He had heard enough to know that Roy was about to out him as a benefactor of the Circus.

Roy let out a derisive laugh, "Right. Best friend. That's all I was saying. _He_ must have been good enough to let in on your little secret! Why else would he be so buddy-buddy with the Circus?"

"I don't understand what's going on," Hal tried to interject.

The other two talked right over him. Oliver yelled, "I didn't tell anyone, Roy! You were the first person I told!"

"Yeah, because you had to! That's it! You would have never told me otherwise!" Roy shouted back.

Hal's jaw clenched and his eyes closed determinedly before they shot open, expression determined. He shouted over both archers, "Maser is my cousin!"

A shocked silence fell over the room. Hal swallowed harshly, "Look, I hadn't known that he was a meta. We all thought that he was a runaway or something. His parents disappeared when he was younger and then he disappeared a few weeks later or something like that. I just found out that his powers had come in and he'd thought himself strong enough to find his parents. Before a year was over, he'd been caught by the Collection Agency and put in the camps. He recognized me when I was introduced to the group. Remember how him and Supersonic disappeared during introductions? That was because Maser was freaked that he recognized me and wasn't sure what to do. Supersonic convinced him to tell me and so, well, that it. I became closer to the whole group because I was family."

Dick tried to cut the tension that had settled over the room, joking weakly, "I guess being a superhero runs in the family."

Hal snorted, but before he could say anything, Oliver said quietly, "I hadn't even known you were missing a cousin. And, I suppose, an aunt and uncle too."

Hal went kind of quiet, "Yeah, well. It happened several years ago. And I wasn't really all that close to Aunt Helen and Uncle Larry. I mean, Maser I was close to. We were thick as thieves. It was kinda like having another kid brother, but one that hadn't realized how much of a screw up I was. I don't know. He's a good kid. It's been nice having him around again. And his team's just like him. They're all good kids, I swear. They _aren't_ all working for the Light. Please believe me on this Roy."

Roy didn't say anything, instead just growling and stalking out of the room. Oliver made a move to go after him, but Dick jumped nimbly off the bed and put a hand on Ollie's arm, stopping him. Dick said softly, "Maybe it's better if I go after him." He didn't wait before running off after Roy.

Kaldur sat awkwardly in his room, not entirely certain what to do about the two men staring each other down. Did they not realize where they were?

Hal looked over at Oliver, "Is there really something you're not telling me?" It seemed as if they really didn't realize where they were.

Oliver's shoulders slumped, "Yeah, yeah there is. Why don't we go over to my place? I'll tell you about it over a drink. Or five." Hal snorted and bumped shoulders with Oliver, drawing out a tired laugh. They both left the room, throwing half-hearted waves over their shoulders to Kaldur. He nodded respectfully back to them.

Finally, some peace. Kaldur sighed when he thought over Roy's actions again. He was getting more paranoid as the days went on. When he had been assigned the task of ferreting out the mole from the Team, he had already been aggressively suspicious, but only towards the newcomers. Conner, Artemis, and M'gann were the victims of all of his suspicions. He had trusted Kaldur and Dick to not be the spy and Zatanna and Raquel joined the Team too late to really be a part of it.

Taking in a deep breath, Kaldur let it out and laid back against the bed. He needed a break. This relentlessly bombardment of bad thing after bad thing was becoming overwhelming, especially with everyone falling apart around him.

Why was all of this happening now? What made this the best time for the Light to become active? There was no way they haven't been an organization for a while now, not with how complex and spread out their activities have been. There were still aspects of their actions that were complete mysteries to the Team and the Justice League. What are they after? Why did they take the things they took? What even was their main goal? There were too many questions, even after all of the research the Team and Circus had done on the group.

Kaldur sighed. There were too many ideas racing around his head, too many potential situations, too many enemies lining up outside his door waiting to hurt him, to hurt his friends, his team.

Kaldur sighed again. It was going to be a long night.

CCCCCC

Cameron had been hesitant about splitting the group up to help some of the larger bases train, but, in the end, it was probably the best choice. The team had been getting short with each other, anxious and scared and worried and sad. It was better to split them into groups of two and send them all off on their own way. Of course, this left Cameron alone in the main base, but that was alright. He still had communication with them, and everyone had agreed pretty quickly to doing regular check-ups throughout the day. He'd allowed the reserve members to settle into the Alliance bases for a week before the main Circus members went off to the bigger bases. He'd only been at the main base for a day, but it seemed alright so far. Well, he was a little more anxious about being alone around all the humans than he wanted to be, but that was alright. He could deal with that.

A hand on Cameron's shoulder startled him, ice spiking around him for a moment, frosting around him. Luckily, whoever had just clapped him on the shoulder jumped back fast enough, a rough, British curse falling from their lips. Julian sneered, "Jumpy much?"

Cameron scowled, "Did you need something?"

"Maybe an attitude check for you," Julian muttered under his breath. He kept going before Cameron could really get offended, "Caitlyn and Cisco wanted you for something. Come on." Cameron nodded and started following after him.

That was the worst part of being in this base. It was a _maze_. He needed someone to lead him around to get anywhere. Even when he wanted to go to his temporary room, he had to find someone to take him. Not that he went to his room all that often. Normally, he fell asleep working on something or another, sleeping on the desk or couch he'd been working at. So far, the others had been too afraid to move him during the nights. He hoped they never tried.

After a second of silence, Julian asked hesitantly, "How did you and Wally come to be such good friends?"

Normally, Cameron avoided answering questions like those, talking around the situation. He wasn't entirely certain why he answered Julian's question. Maybe he was tired. Maybe he was just sick of holding everything so close to his chest. Maybe there was something about Julian that reminded him of himself. Maybe he was just going a little crazy. No matter the reason, Cameron sighed and shrugged, "I mean, we were the only two kids in our barracks. The only other kids on the bus with us were girls. We became good friends with a lot of the people who came in on the same bus as us or were in the barracks when we got there, but by the time they were dead and new people were filling in their spots, we'd learned to not care so much about the newbies. No need to set ourselves up for more pain."

Julian had flinched when Cameron casually mentioned the deaths of the other people in the barracks and Cameron automatically bristled. What did people think? Everyone who got dragged off to the camps were alive and just fine? Seriously. Of course there were people dying all over the place. Idiots. Julian's immediate move onto a different question had Cameron's hackles lowering slightly, "How'd you meet the others that escaped with you?"

"They were in my worker group. We were all set to build a new common room for the guards together. Well, except for Changeling. He was on the examination table next to Wally's when Wally escaped. We weren't really able to tell anyone else about the plan or make a concerted effort to save certain people. We rescued whoever was close enough to us at the time. It just happened to be Changeling and the rest," Cameron said. That had been rough on Wally. The speedster had always had some sort of massive hero's complex, even when they were stuck in that awful place. He'd beaten himself up over the fact that he'd only been able to rescue a couple of them. It was like he physically couldn't understand that he had led the single largest camp breakout _ever_. Two of them now.

Julian sighed, "You can't save everyone."

Cameron snorted, "Try telling Wally thought. He's pretty determined to save everyone."

"All the metahumans," Julian said, under his breath. Cameron glanced sharply at him, jaw clenching again. Julian winced, "Sorry. It's just… I don't know if I've ever mentioned, but I'm a human. It… it's rough sometimes to be near you Circus guys, to know that you'd leave me to die somewhere if you had your choice."

"Excuse me?" Cameron asked, stopping in the middle of the hallway, "I don't think you understand that situation. If we had our choice, we _would_ save you. We'd save all the humans just like we'd save all the metas. It'd be scary to be that close to a human, but we'd be mostly in control of the situation. But humans don't give us that choice. They decided for us. It's easier to leave them behind. Let their own kind save them."

Julian sighed, "Sorry. I didn't mean to really bring anything up. That's part of why we had such an issue joining up with you, though. The rest of the group was a little uncomfortable joining up with a group like you. I don't know if you guys realize how dangerous you are, how scary it is to have a group around like you – wild, scared, damaged, powerful. It's not the safest combination. They felt uncomfortable having a group that had such little regard for humans, that has a pretty impressive kill count."

"You try doing what we do and avoid racking up a kill count," Cameron muttered back, unimpressed.

"Looks like I'm going to have to try. I don't like fighting," Julian answered easily.

Cameron's lips twisted, a sigh caught in his throat, "We wouldn't have made you fight if we didn't have to."

"And we know that. We appreciate it. Besides, maybe it's time that we start really doing something. Maybe our method wasn't enough. All I know is that we've been active for nine years and… how much has changed? I know we've saved a lot of people and we've done a lot of good, but… there's more that we can do. We've built up grass root campaigns in a lot of government. We've got people in high places – and it sounds like you do, too. We've done the set up, now we need to actually get a move on making a change. We need to get out there and get things moving. We can go faster now that we've set everything up. We've just… been scared," Julian answered, his honesty surprising Cameron.

Lips twitching into a considering frown, Cameron shrugged again, "There's a lot to be scared of. All of your meta teammates have the camps to fear. Or, well. I guess it depends on which country they get caught in. There are countries with worse set-ups than the camps. There are some smaller countries where metahumans are killed on sight. But there's a lot of bad out there that wants to make sure that metas are never treated like regular people."

"What's the worst part about being a metas? Other than the camps?" Julian asked.

Cameron didn't even need to think about that one, "The way we're taught to hate ourselves, to be afraid of ourselves. I mean, the whole reason that metas are hated is because people are afraid of us. Our powers are so unique, so dependent on situation and the person, that there's no way to have people reliably train them. All of our powers are completely different and, like, we can help each other with basic control techniques and theories, but the actual control? There's no one out there to train us, right? And that's really kind of true. I mean, it's no reason to lock us up and treat us the way we've been treated, but it's true. Our powers are… they're insane. And they grow with us. I've seen kids whose powers do a complete 180 when they hit puberty. Controlling these abilities, learning to live with them, the inconveniences and quirks… it's hard. It's awful. It's terrifying. There's no one I'm more scared of than myself. If I lose control for even a second, that's it. I could kill everyone I love. If I get too emotional, my ice will go out of my control. And I'm getting stronger as I grow older, too. I know that Wally finds new uses for his powers every day. And there's the bad parts. I'm always freezing cold. When my powers are deactivated, I've got a core body temperature of somewhere around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. I can't get too hot. I can't use a stove top because it's actual dangerous to me. BC's powers make her lose her voice sometimes. I know Changeling gets horrible growing pains because his body is trying to prepare for all the different animals he can turn into. Wally has a hard time with accidentally slipping into relative time. It's easy to hate ourselves when everything the world says about us seems true."

Julian grimaced, expression soft, "I understand hating yourself for your abilities. Doctor Alchemy is… not a good guy. He's not someone I ever want to be. But he's also helped us in certain situations. It doesn't make up for everything else he's done, but… I don't know. It's not just metas who can't control their abilities."

Cameron snorted, "Try telling the rest of the world that."

"Well, that is the point of this whole organization," Julian teased, drawing a genuine smile out of Cameron. It was the first time he'd smiled in a while. It pulled slightly at his facial muscles, working the underused muscles. He wondered if this was how Wally felt.

Then again, he was probably used to it. He had never really smiled all that much, even at the beginning. He'd mentioned that smiling too much and acting too excitable had annoyed his parents sometimes, so he tried to avoid it, generally. But the amount he smiled had definitely decreased as the years wore on. It worried a lot of the other people in the barracks, but they always were worried about the two runts in the barracks. Cameron and Wally were always looked after by the rest of them. It'd always made Cameron feel kind of bad, but also really, really loved. He was pretty sure that his time in the camps was actually the first time he really understood the concept of family. Sometimes he felt like a lot of those early metas felt the same way. Since most of the early campers were either criminals or the children of criminals, most of them had had a rough relationship with the concept of family. The bonds they formed in those barracks? The love they developed, platonic or otherwise? It was the closest thing to family a lot of them had experienced.

But still, Wally's smiles waned as he went. Of course, that happened with a lot of the experiments. It took Cameron a while to get Wally to really open up about the tests that the scientists did, but it was worth it when he did. It was awful to hear about what they did to Wally (even though Cameron knew that Wally was still editing some things out, still keeping some things to himself in the way that all experiments did), but Cameron could tell that it helped him.

Forming the Circus was even better. It was the most that Cameron had seen Wally smile in _years_. Making the alliance with the Team? That was even better. Wally had been branching out while still getting closer to his original team. He'd been happy in a way that Cameron wasn't sure he'd ever seen Wally before. He'd always wondered if Wally had been like that before that camps or if it was a new development. He wondered when Wally realized the concept of family. He figured it'd be a while before he found out.

Julian's gentle voice broke Cameron out of his daze, "Hey, we're here. And… about everything I've said. I respect the Circus completely. I know you've done a lot of good things and I know that there's a lot we can learn from you. I know that you have a lot of good reasons to be afraid, to be wary. I'm glad that you care enough to help us anyways." He paused before dredging up an awkward smile, "Anyways, I'm off."

He walked off, shoulders tense, obviously uncomfortable with the heartfelt comment he'd just made. Cameron smiled lightly to himself. He didn't hate humans. It was just that getting used to them was going to take a little bit of work. But, with humans like Julian helping him through the process, he'd be used to them in no time.

VVVVVV

Vandal wasn't sure why he'd insisted on watching over the surgery. Luthor, the one normally watching over the procedure, had given him an interested look, one eyebrow raising elegantly, but he hadn't said anything, simply walking away, waving once at Mercy.

Regardless, there Vandal was, watching Supersonic's procedure. Maybe it was because West was the largest gamble in his plans. Giving West the implant that allowed his powers to never be compromised by inhibitor devices was a risk – a large one. Vandal was almost certain that it would finally convince West to join them. The Circus had proven to be a dangerous group, more dangerous than expected. The Circus was not only incredibly motivated through their own experiences, but also somehow comprised of incredibly powerful metas. How West managed to end up rescuing people who were all so powerful is unfathomable.

Icicle's incredible ice powers far outclassed the trinkets that villains like the Iceman, Icicle Sr., or Captain Cold used. Black Canary's martial arts skills perfectly coupled with her Canary Cry and were perfectly accented by her creative intelligence. Changeling's range of powers and unique life experiences meant that the amount of animals he could turn into was unbelievable, the speed at which he could switch between forms just as impressive. Maser's electrical powers covered such a wide technology and manipulation of different types of waves that the applications of his powers were limitless. Firehawk, although unfortunately injured by Klarion, had incredibly strong fire and some of the best stamina Vandal had ever seen. Ballistic's knowledge of a huge range of weapons was the best fit for his enormous body and super thick skin.

Shazam, who Vandal now knew was an _eight year old child_ , was on Superman's level power-wise. It rankled Vandal, knowing that a small child had hid in his organization for so long, had escaped in the end, but he recognized Shazam as a worthy opponent. He also recognized West's skill for placing someone like Shazam undercover. Jinx was another powerhouse. Her magic was incredibly strong and was growing in leaps and bounds, especially under correct tutelage. Vandal wouldn't be surprised to see a day where she eventually eclipsed the likes of Doctor Fate.

West was just as, if not more, powerful as the rest of his team. West held the most potential Vandal had seen in a long time. The Speed Force was… intriguing. It didn't seem limited to providing speed. It seemed to almost give West the ability to defy physics. It was incredible. Flawless. Vandal needed a soldier like West in his army. He almost wished that he was the boy's father, that he could claim such a powerful creature as his own kin. This would have to suffice.

This gift of true freedom should be enough to bring West into Vandal's army, but if West would not comply… well, there were _other_ methods.

 **Author's Note: Not a ton of plot, but there were some necessary conversations. Mainly about what's happening with Wally. People are finally moving into the end game! Thanks for reading as always!**


	38. Chapter 38

**Author's Note: Here we go with another chapter! I've had a great week, so I hope that you had a great one and will have a great one this upcoming week! Read, review, and (most importantly) enjoy!**

 **WARNING: There's nothing super graphic in here, but there are mentions of attempted suicide. And, like, there are parts of this chapter that are kinda pretty dark (even for this story). Just, you know, a warning. I squicked myself out with some of the things I alluded to.**

WWWWWW

After Wally's sudden departure into the land of sleep, things got sort of hazy. There were half-baked impressions of moments where he must have been awake on some level, but they were interspersed with nightmares. Scientists stood above him, doing _something_ , talking amicably, but then they were wearing the camp scientist uniforms, expressions morphing into ugly sneers or clinical disinterest. He got bright glimpses of hallways, one second of huge, scared eyes. A momentary glimpse of a hallway mixed with his memories of the Team, Red Arrow standing at the edge of the hallway, talking to someone in a white mask.

By the time he woke up, he wasn't sure what he'd seen, wasn't sure what was real, what was fake, what had even _happened_. He blinked around the room, trying to tamp down on the instinctual panic that flared when he realized he was chained back down to the bed, the door aggressively locked down. He swallowed harshly, trying to breathe through the panic, but the breath stuttered in his throat.

There… there wasn't an inhibitor collar on him. They'd taken the collar off. Wally's eyes, embarrassingly, burned with grateful tears. As awful as the Light was and as much as he wanted to bash all of their faces in, they did this one thing that he was very thankful for. Maybe Jinx really had convinced them to listen to her a little bit. Maybe they'd just put the inhibitor collar on for when he woke up, no doubt disoriented and confused.

Of course, the locked door and the ankle cuff showed that the Light still didn't trust him, but that was okay. He had his powers back. It had been over a _month_ since he was last able to have his powers activated.

The door swung open, breaking Wally from his thoughts. He prepared himself to greet Jinx, but it wasn't her who was standing in his doorway. Vandal Savage stood there, broad shoulders almost brushing both edges of the doorway, head nearly grazing the top. Wally had seen images of Savage, had seen the man's specs, but seeing him looming in the doorway, towering over Wally's prone form, made his size suddenly a lot more intimidating.

Wally swallowed, eyes automatically going hard, "Let me go."

Savage raised his eyebrows, "That's not the tone I was expecting you to take with your saviour."

"My _what_?" Wally asked incredulously. Was this guy serious?

There was a darkly amused glint in Savage's eyes when he answered, "I have set you free, _truly_ free. You no longer wear the shackles of unevolved humanity."

Wally was starting to get a bad feeling, skin prickling with unease, "Talk straight. I'm not in the mood for psychotic ramblings."

All that seemed to do was amuse Savage further because his smile ticked up a notch while he stared at Wally, finally answering, "Inhibitor collars, power nullifies, and inhibitor fields will no longer work on you. I have _set you free_."

Wally subconsciously slipped into relative time.

And then promptly _freaked out_. Savage did _what_? They removed his ability to be stopped by power nullifiers? That was ballsy for them. That was their _one_ advantage in this battle. All the Justice League or Team had needed to do was activate inhibitor fields around their bases and important buildings and the usefulness of metahuman villains would decrease tenfold. But now Savage was giving it away to his enemies? Why would he do that? Why would he run that risk?

Wally's eyes went flat, "Sorry, not sorry, but I don't take bribes. Whatever Jinx might have told you, whatever you deluded yourself into believing, I'm not going to join you. I do not approve of the Light and I will not approve of the Light. Even if I wasn't going based on my moralities and was instead just working with whoever I thought was going to win, I wouldn't go with you. Can I just take a second to remind you that I had a spy undercover here for _months_? You're going to lose and I'm not going to let you drag me or my team down with me."

There was the first flashes of rage in Savage's eyes, but the man smothered them quickly. Wally felt himself tense at the sight; the rage itself was terrifying to look at, but it was obvious that the man was well-practiced in smothering and hiding his rage. That was a man who was completely in control of his emotions. Someone like Savage would be hard to fight.

Savage gave him a dangerous, sharp little smile, seemingly just reluctantly amused, "I must admit that we were surprised that the person you had undercover was so young." Wally didn't want to show a reaction, but he couldn't help the way the colour slid out of his face at that revelation. Savage knew who Billy was. He knew that Billy was Shazam. As far as Wally was concerned, that was the absolute proof that there was a spy among the Team. Even Jinx, as far gone as she was, wouldn't reveal that information. She _wouldn't_. She… she couldn't. She… she…

Savage continued after a pause, "But, as far as I am concerned, that is not a discredit to the Light, but merely a credit to you as a leader. It is truly impressive how powerful and well-organized your team is. You managed to select quite an amazing group from the camps when you escaped." Wally's jaw clenched. He hadn't _selected_ anyone. He'd saved whoever was close enough to be saved. That was it. He would have never been able to sit there and pick and choose. Savage seemed to read some of that in Wally's eyes because he let out a mirthless chuckle, "Or perhaps you were just lucky. Lucky to pull together so many _powerful_ beings."

"Ones that you'll never get," Wally commented mildly, trying to pull a rise from Savage. The leader of the Light had to see that Wally wasn't going to work with him. Why was he still so self-satisfied? Why was he so sure that this was going to work?

A dark, quiet chuckle spread over the room, Savage following it with a fascinated grin, "Is that so?"

"It is," Wally answered, matching his tone to Savage's. There was something going on here, something that he didn't quite understand, something wrong.

Savage shook his head, "I don't think you understand the position that you are in, boy. For all that your powers are free, you are still my prisoner. What do you think you will achieve by staying here, watching as we destroy all of those who stand in our way?"

"You're not going to win," Wally said, not rising to the bait. Savage wanted him to feel threatened? Fine. He knew that he needed to threaten Wally's team to really make Wally feel the pressure? Fine. But Wally had faith in his team, needed to have faith in them. Like Savage had said, they were all powerful. Just the fact that Savage had made that comment, that he wanted them to join the Light so bad told Wally all he needed to know: Savage was afraid of the Circus. He knew that he couldn't win if the Circus was fighting against him. So, Wally wouldn't rise to the bait. He wouldn't let Savage get to him. Let him try to find a way to break Wally, let him figure out that the camps beat him to it and that hope and the trust in his team was the only thing holding Wally together at this point.

Heaving a sigh, Savage shook his head, "Wallace Rudolph West. I really don't think you understand what I'm saying. And I had been told that you were _so_ smart." He shook his head in mock disappointment and Wally resisted the urge to bear his teeth at the villain. Savage smirked again, " _You_ stand in my way, West. So, I will have to destroy you. And what better way is there to destroy a hero than hurting the hero's friends?"

Wally interrupted him, "You can't get to them!"

Savage snarled, "I don't have to!" He visibly regained his composure, sinking back into a self-satisfied smile, "I already have one. Jinx, dear, would you come in here, please?"

Wally's heart dropped.

He hadn't thought about that. The idea hadn't even occurred to him. _Stupid_ , he was so _stupid_. He watched with wide, terrified eyes as Jinx walked obediently into the room. He closed his eyes when he realized that her eyes were dull and unfocused – she was under some sort of hypnosis or mind control.

Savage was watching him again, dark eyes glittering, "I am not going to hurt her, West. I am not going to hurt you either. This is how this is going to work. There are only three options for you: you agree to join us, you break and we use you anyways, or you die. You will be tortured and Jinx will be tortured, but I will not lay a finger on either of you. Jinx, who has so kindly submitted to mind control, will torture you. After a little while, if you do not choose to join us, we will allow her to come free from her mind control. What do you think it would do to her to know that she had hurt you? This process will be repeated until you have succumbed to one of the three options. Do you understand now, boy?"

Wally was shaking. It was some sort of weird mix of fear and fury that caused him to shake, but he couldn't stop, couldn't even get his mouth open to fire back some sort of quip or another. His mind went blank. This couldn't… this couldn't be real. This wasn't happening. This was some sort of nightmare. They couldn't do this. _No one_ was this evil. No one. It just… it couldn't be. Those thoughts swirled around his mind, creating a haze of terrified white noise.

Two lackeys came in, chained him up, and dragged him towards another room (a torture room, his mind tried to supply before the thought was buried under all that white noise again). Behind it all, Jinx followed, eyes glazed.

KKKKKK

Kaldur crossed his arms, expression tense, "They are not going to like this."

"They don't really have much of a choice. This is the best that we can give them in this situation. We need each other to win and with Red Arrow finally getting to be a part of the Justice League, they don't have a reason to not join us," Robin said, clicking frantically at the computer.

Artemis scowled, "How about the fact that we let them leave in the first place? Or how we kidnapped their leader? Or how we let their leader get kidnapped by the Light? Or how we are now _hacking into their secure systems_?"

"How else are we supposed to go to them, Artemis?" Robin asked, scowling back, "We have no way to contact them other than hacking through whatever the Alliance left in our system when they did that video chat. That's all we can do right now. We need them to win and they need us to win. Especially after everything we've discovered. It's going to be okay."

"They're going to kill us," Raquel said, eyebrows raised sceptically,

Robin groaned dramatically, "Do you have a better plan?"

"I, for one, support Robin," Hal piped up from the back, leaning against a wall towards the back of the conference room. He might have been their den mother for the day, but he was never all that responsible. Plus, Kaldur was sure that he trusted the Circus more than the rest of the Team combined. Then again, he also knew the Circus more than the rest of the Team did.

From next to him, Oliver made a hum of agreement. Hal and Oliver had been as close as usual when they'd walked into the base that morning, so Kaldur had to assume that their conversation regarding Oliver's position as a benefactor of the Circus had gone well. Then again, Oliver was basically only admitting to having provided the funds necessary to give Hal's cousin an easier time in life. It was understandable that Hal wouldn't have a problem with it.

No one else got a chance to put their own opinions in before Robin let out a small, "Ah-ha!"

Everyone looked up as the screen started to fizzle into life, blurry, static-y pictures forming slowly. They all watched with wide eyes as a man flitted around the screen, hastily putting masks on everyone's faces. The person sped to a stop in front of the screen, bright red suit and cowl surprising Kaldur, "What's going on?"

Icicle was there, standing in the background with his arms crossed and one of the angriest scowls Kaldur had ever seen scrawled across his features, "The Team just hacked into your camera. We're on a two-way with the Team because they don't know how to take no for an answer, apparently."

Kaldur stepped forward. He was going to get a hold of the situation before things started spiralling. He cleared his throat and nodded respectfully at the frazzled looking group in front of him, "I am Aqualad, leader of the Team. I am sorry for this intrusion, but we had no other method of contacting you and we needed to speak with you. May we meet with your leader?"

The man in red's jaw clenched, but he sighed and nodded, "You're meeting with him right now. I'm not okay with this by the way." Kaldur's shoulders slumped in relief but before he could say anything, the man started talking again, questioning, "Is Supersonic alright?"

Kaldur deflated. That was… not quite the conversation topic he had wished to start with. Icicle caught the movement and glared at Kaldur, "What happened? What did you do?"

One of the other men in the room, blonde and scrawny, put a hand on Icicle's chest, stopping him from moving forward and whispering something in the teenager's ear that the video chat couldn't quite pick up. Icicle didn't seem happy about it, but he stepped back, settling for glaring darkly at the screen.

Taking the moment to collect himself, Kaldur tried to stand tall when he answered, "Supersonic had been a prisoner of ours for just over a month. Just over a day ago, the Light broke into our compound, injuring myself, Miss Martian, and Zatanna, and taking Supersonic with them."

"The Light took W- uh, um. Supersonic? That's his name, right?" The man in red turned slightly to check with Icicle. Icicle's jaw was clenched but he nodded. Kaldur was surprised; he hadn't been aware that the Alliance knew Wally's identity. Still, the man in red seemed genuinely worried about Wally's safety.

Kaldur nodded, "Yes. A taskforce of people that could not be identified were led by Tuppence Terror – Tommy Terror's twin sister. They tried to take Supersonic, but he resisted. Eventually, Jinx arrived, neutralized me, and knocked Supersonic unconscious. She left with the rest of the Light." Kaldur knew that there was a hint of accusation in his voice, the slight inflection that told them that he blamed them for allowing Jinx to go over to the Light.

Icicle was clenching his fists, the sound of ice grinding together audible even to the video chat. His eyes were flat and cold, jaw clenched tighter than was probably safe. The same blonde man from before tried to put a hand on Icicle's shoulder, but the teen shrugged his hand off, glaring hard at the floor.

The man in red's eyes were wide and shocked, hands shaking, "So, uh, he's – he's gone? You can't get him back? No way to track him?" Kaldur reluctantly shook his head. A pretty redhead towards the side of the room let out a small sob, hands cupped delicately over her mouth.

Another man, wearing a strange mixture of shorts, a _very_ revealing top, and strange white goggles, put a hand on the man in red's shoulder, squeezing it before looking back at the screen, "Was that all you wanted to tell us, or is there more?"

Kaldur readied himself yet again. This would be the hardest part, especially after he'd admitted to losing the Circus's leader. He faced them directly and said, "As it stands right now, the Circus alone cannot defeat the Light. The Alliance alone cannot defeat the Light. The Team alone cannot defeat the Light. The Justice League alone cannot defeat the Light. Even working in small alliances, we cannot defeat the Light. All of us have to work together to defeat the Light. I am proposing an alliance between the Team, the Circus, the Alliance, and the Justice League."

"Denied," Icicle answered instantly.

A woman with chestnut hair and a hastily placed domino mask put a hand up, "Wait just a second. The Team is right: no group of us can take the Light alone. The more fighters we have in our plan, the better."

Icicle let out a harsh laugh, "Joining up with the Team wouldn't be 'more fighters' to help with the plan. It'd be a way for the Light to instantly know of our plans. They have a mole. The Light is probably getting your images right now."

"We do not fully believe that there is a traitor among us. We cannot believe that. Despite that fact, in order to reassure you since you believe that Red Arrow is the traitor, Red Arrow no longer works with the Team. He is a member of the Justice League and will be working with them full-time now. If you wish it, he will have no knowledge of our actions," Kaldur answered. Icicle had to see the benefits of a three-way alliance, even if he wouldn't let the Justice League help.

The man in red shook his head slightly, "You guys captured Supersonic, allowed him to be taken by the Light. If he hadn't been captured, Jinx probably wouldn't have gone over to the Light, either."

Kaldur winced at the accusations, "I am sorry that our actions had unforeseen consequences, but we were upholding the law, which is our job. We are heroes. We ensure that people do not break the laws, that they do not hurt others. We could not allow Supersonic to go back to his team, a team of what the United Nations has labelled terrorists."

"That's not stopping you from working with us now. It didn't stop you from working with us in the beginning," Icicle accused.

"No, it did not and it does not now. We need each other to defeat the Light. They are the greatest threat that _all_ people face right now. We know that you know something and that is why you went underground. Please allow us to help. We all have information that can help each other. _Please_ let us help," Kaldur practically begged. He needed this to work.

The man in red looked at them, expression tense. He glanced over at the redheaded woman, the two of them holding gazes for a long moment before the man in red slumped, "Alright, let's do this."

Icicle started protesting immediately, "No! Absolutely not! Did you not just hear everything I said about them having a mole? Did you not hear everything they _admitted to_ about taking Supersonic and letting him be taken by the Light?"

"I know that you're worried, Icicle, I do!" The man in red protested, "But the fact of the matter is that they obviously didn't just _let_ the Light take Supersonic. I mean, seriously, look at them! And we need all the help we can get! Even with your auxiliary and main members training my people how to fight, it still won't be enough! My people have been learning how to fight for a month, while trying to set up defences and do surveillance on the places they're supposed to take out and make traps and weapons! We're not made to fight and, yes, we've been doing a good job of getting ready for that, but we could _always_ use the extra help. _Always_! That's why we agreed to work with _you_ in the first place! I mean, _think_ about it, Icicle. I trust you guys because I trust Supersonic, but the fact of the matter is that a lot of my people didn't want to work with you because they're scare of you! I know you know why! This is no different. We're going to work with them, and I have a feeling that your people wouldn't be too opposed to it either. Is that understood?"

Hands clenched again, Icicle rubbed the heels of his palms into his eyes, creating that horrible ice grinding noise again. He panted out a breath, "I can't trust them."

"You don't _have_ to trust them," the redheaded woman commented softly, "You just have to work with them, just long enough to take out the Light, okay? Then you all can hash out your differences, alright?"

Icicle took in a shaky breath. Kaldur felt for him. It was obvious that Icicle didn't want to be leading, that he wasn't comfortable making these decisions. It must have been horribly difficult for him to be in this position without Wally by his side. Kaldur and Wally had talked a little bit about Icicle and Wally's friendship, and it sounded like the two of them were attached at the hip. They hadn't really gone without each other for a long time. This had to be horrible for the metahuman.

Icicle finally let out an aggravated puff of breath, "Okay! Okay, fine. _Fine_. I'm going to tell the rest of my team."

The man in red hesitantly offered, "I could get them for you? We could do all of our information share all at once with everyone here?"

"Here as in at your base? Or in video conference? Because all of this would be easier in person," Robin commented hesitantly.

The man in red instantly tensed, "You know what? You want to gain our trust? We'll come to you. I'm assuming the Circus knows your coordinates?"

"Yes, they do," Kaldur confirmed, "And you are all welcome here. How long should we wait before expecting you?"

Icicle threw out the coordinates and the man in red turned and grinned at the camera. And then he turned into a blur.

It was like watching Wally run, but the lightning was a different colour. Kaldur's mouth almost dropped open watching the man zip around the room and then disappear. Less than a minute later, he was dropping someone off in the room before he was gone. Kaldur didn't even get a chance to process who was in there before he was gone again, racing off and coming back with another person and then another and another.

In mere minutes, the room was filled with people, the Circus members blinking at their surroundings in confusion. Kaldur swallowed his nerves and strode to the front of the room, "Everyone, please take a seat. There should be enough seats for every person."

The Circus members froze, the confusion turning to fear, to defensiveness until Icicle waved a hand for them all to relax. He was still scowling fiercely, but he didn't seem like he was going to act out, so that was good.

As they all found seats, the Alliance introduced themselves with aliases. Surprisingly, it was Billy who started the conversation off, "Here's the facts: the Big Day or whatever? The time when everything is supposed to happen? That's on New Year's Eve."

The Team reeled in shock. M'gann stuttered, "N-new Year's _Eve_? That's… that's tomorrow! That's _tomorrow_!" Billy didn't say anything else, just looked at them grimly. Off to the side, Oliver swore, and Hal punched the table.

The man in red – the Flash – sighed, "I know. We didn't get much warning either. Shazam here only found out a day or two before he was rescued by you guys. He told his team as soon as possible and they told us right afterwards. We've only had about a month to prepare."

"Do you know what it is that they plan to do?" Kaldur asked seriously.

Flash shook his head, "We've got no clue. I mean, we know that it's going to focus on the Justice League or something like that, but we're not entirely certain. What we've got so far is that they want the Justice League out of the picture so everyone can become metahumans. I don't know how they plan to get the Justice League out of the way or change people's minds about metas, but that's their game plan."

"What's your game plan?" Robin asked, nodding towards the group.

Flash grimaced and looked around, "Between Shazam's information, the information you guys collected, and the information we got from our own spies, we're pretty sure that we've got a handle on all of the Light bases worldwide. On the Big Day, we're going to attack all of those bases at the same time. An internationally concerted attack. The people sitting here are going to be the ones going after the main group. We're hoping we can tag them before they leave their base, but we're also frantically trying to figure out their next move so we can get them while they're in the middle of their big plan if we need to. If we can figure out their next move, I'd feel a lot better about this whole thing." Everyone nodded to him in understanding, each thinking about the situation.

Kaldur looked at Icicle with determination, "We cannot do this the same way that we tried before. That did not work as it should have. For this to work, we need to trust each other. We need to know that everyone is on the same page. We need to work as one, concerted team. We cannot allow ourselves to fall apart again."

Maser's shoulders hunched and he grumbled, "Tell that to your own team."

Icicle sighed, "Don't, Maser. I'm sick of fighting, sick of picking sides. We're all on the same side. Just… let it go. We need their help. They need ours. Until the Light is dealt with, that's all that matters."

"And Jinx and Supersonic?" Black Canary asked softly. Oliver was looking at her longingly from the other side of the table. Black Canary was studiously ignoring him.

Icicle closed his eyes, "What about them? We made the conscious decision to not rescue Supersonic because he can get himself out of whatever scrapes he's in. If he can't get out, then that's his own problem. The Light is our priority at this moment. If we get Supersonic out, then great. He can decide what to do with Jinx."

Raquel shook her head, "That's cold."

"It's necessary. We don't have the time for me to make any other choices, alright?" Icicle said. His shoulders were up practically around his ears and his eyes were distant, frustration lining every angle of glinting ice.

"Alright," Kaldur said, pulling the conversation back on track, "We understand. Now, what do you need us to do?"

WWWWWW

Wally was shaking. He wasn't sure he was ever going to stop shaking. His words hung in the air, broken shards of glass clawing their way up his throat and out into the open. Savage was gazing at him neutrally, seeming to assess how genuine he was. Jinx was still standing at attention, arms lit up pink, _tools_ hanging in the air, ready to be used. She was covered in a mix of blood – Wally's from what she was forced to do, hers from when she'd been woken up the third or fourth time and figured that ending herself would be the better option. They'd learned to restrain her when they woke her up.

It didn't matter anymore, though. Wally had given up. He'd broken. He'd told Savage that he'd join him, that he'd do whatever he needed to do. Wally couldn't keep watching Jinx hurt so much. He couldn't do this to her. She might have been misled into the Light and made mistakes because of that, but she wasn't a bad person. Wally couldn't watch her hurt, couldn't watch her hurt herself.

Savage stood up, "Excellent. We'll allow you a few days to heal up and then we'll let you out, give you your first mission. I-,"

Wally interrupted him, "No. You show me the lab that put this thing in me. I want to know what's in my body. And _yes_ , I'll understand it. Show me the lab or we start this all over again."

Savage raised an eyebrow, "And what tells me that you won't just run once you know how to create an anti-inhibitor chip?"

Wally shrugged, "You tell me. Who knows what else you've got in that chip – and don't try to tell me there's nothing else in there because I _know_ that's false. And you've got Jinx. You just saw how much I hate seeing her hurt. You've got a hostage."

"Fine, let's go," Savage said, some of his amusement drifting away. He unlocked Wally's cuff, but left Jinx standing where she was. After a second of thinking, he motioned towards Jinx. Jinx started moving, sitting in the chair Savage had vacated and grabbing one of the sharp tools, placing it against her jugular. Wally swallowed at the thought of the implicit threat there. He wouldn't be able to run back fast enough to stop her from killing herself, even if he wasn't as injured as he was. His healing powers were still wonky, like they always were after wearing inhibitor collars. Especially now, after he'd been wearing a collar for over a month.

Savage started walking, barely waiting for Wally to get up. Wally slipped quickly into relative time, giving himself a moment to breath as he stood up, bracing himself against the bed frame. He winced at the sight of blood dripping down his body, splashing onto the floor. Someone was going to have to clean up a blood trail wherever he walked. He was probably going to freak people out, walking around the compound like some sort of zombie or something, clothes in tatters, pale skin, blood everywhere.

Wally took another deep breath and then started pushing forward. He needed to know what they'd implanted in him. He couldn't afford to have something in him that he didn't understand. He'd just have to behave until he could figure out a way to get out of there without Jinx getting hurt. Playing along was his best bet for now.

To be honest, Wally hadn't intending on playing along. That had never been part of his plans, but… he genuinely couldn't see Jinx hurt like that anymore. She always came out of her trance screaming and Wally couldn't help but think that she was seeing everything her body was doing. If that had gone on for much longer, it would have broken her.

They turned down a lot of hallways, more than Wally could keep up with when his brain was in as much of a haze as it was. He coughed, grimacing and gasping at the pain that action caused. He leaned against the walls as he walked, leaving a bloody trail behind him.

Thankfully, though, with the speed that Savage walked, they made it to the labs quicker than Wally had expected. He sighed gratefully when he got a moment to lean fully against the wall as Savage entered in his credentials. Savage raised an eyebrow at Wally's condition, but mercifully didn't say anything.

A second later, the door opened and Savage waved Wally in.

Wally trudged over, breathing harder than he wanted to. He saw rows and rows of fume hoods, more open tables further back. There was an enormous open space behind even that, rooms with individual operation and out-patient rooms branching off all along the sides of the room.

The scientists looked over when he came in, some of them standing in alarm. They calmed down, relaxing back into their seats when they saw Savage come in behind Wally. Wally limped through the room, running a weather eye over everything. Savage moved over to a scientist leaning over a computer, waving a hand towards Wally, "He wants to know how the chip works."

The scientist ran a disinterested eye over Wally, seemingly not at all concerned about his injured state, "I can pull the specs and research up on the computer and he can read through it if he would like. I'm not explaining it to him."

"You don't need the computer right now?" Savage asked curiously as the scientist rapidly pulled up some files.

"I have other things I can be doing," the scientist said, walking off towards a nearby fume hood.

Savage stared at Wally, "I am going to look around, see how the scientists are doing. If I see that you've moved an _inch_ from this spot, then Jinx kills herself. Am I understood?"

"Yes," Wally grit out. Savage peered at him for a moment longer, amusement flickering over his face for a second before he turned around to go bother someone else. Wally barely resisted the urge to flip him off as he walked away.

Shaking his head, Wally turned back towards the files. He ran through them at lightning speed, figuring he'd go back through some of the more interesting ones at normal speed. Something else caught his attention the moment he finished reading the information on the chip in his neck. There were other files, ones that the scientist hadn't opened yet. Wally resisted the urge to look behind him and see if anyone was watching him – that'd just make him look suspicious. He was reading too fast for anyone to know what he was looking at anyways.

Wally quickly opened the files, skimming through the information.

The colour drained from his face, hand tightening on his chair in order to keep himself upright.

This… this couldn't be real…

 **Author's Note: Cliffhanger! Aren't you excited? Haha, thanks for reading, please don't kill me!**


	39. Chapter 39

**Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! Summer break is coming up in about a month for me, so hopefully, I'll be able to write more! Maybe. Knowing my luck, probably not. Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

WWWWWW

This… this couldn't be real…

Wally blanched as he read further into the file, what little colour he had left draining away. He swallowed tightly, breath stolen by surprise. His hands shook.

The Light had created the Camps.

The Light had been around for a lot longer than anyone had guessed. Savage had been leading it for years and years and that was only what was mentioned in this file. The Light had gotten operatives into high places or had found influential people they could bribe, and they'd convinced the whole world to prosecute metahumans. They'd initiated propaganda and speeches and riots and metahuman-led damage all with the aim of ensuring that metahumans were hated and disgraced everywhere in the world.

Why? Why would they do this? It didn't make sense! So many of their members – their _leader_ – were metahumans. Their whole goal was to evolve all of humanity into metahumans. Why would they do this? Why would they inflict this much pain and suffering on their own kind? How did this make any sense?

Wally burned with the knowledge. This room he was standing in, this building was built by the same people who created the camps, was essentially the same as the Collection Agency. Wally kept reading, a feeling of sickness welling in him with each additional paragraph.

It _was_ the camps that had designed the chip Wally had in his neck. That thought made him want to rip it out with his own hands, his skin crawling with the idea that something the camps made was inside of him. His own aggressive suffering had led towards this chip. His blood and sweat and tears had gone into making this thing. Wally almost couldn't hold back the urge to vomit, the sickness rising up into his throat. Everything about this was wrong.

A hand on his shoulder knocked him out of his daze, a slick voice asking smugly, "I don't believe you were supposed to look at that."

Wally resisted the urge to rip his shoulder out from under Savage's hand, "You never said I couldn't. It was already pulled up when I got here."

Savage removed his hand and leaned back away from Wally, "Mm. Do you suitably understand the chip in your neck?"

"Yes," Wally ground out. He knew more than he wanted to know. He knew enough that he wanted it _out_ , no matter what sort of benefits it supposedly gave him.

Savage seemed to hear some of the words Wally wasn't saying because he smirked again, dark eyes swirling with an emotion Wally couldn't quite identify, "Then let us go. You are to remain in your room for the foreseeable future. Until you're healed at least. I will ensure that the cameras are off, but the door will stay locked. Jinx will bring you your food and will stay with you while you are healing. Is this agreeable?"

No. Wally answered, "Yes." Nothing that man would be agreeable. The amount of suffering he was responsible for was… it was astronomical. There was no other word for it. Even that word didn't fully cover what Savage was responsible for. It made Wally sick just to stand next to the man. It made Wally sick to know that he was at the man's mercy.

The two walked quickly back to Wally's cell, Wally's heart beating frantically in his chest the entire time. There was a desperate rage in his heart, anger that told him to end Savage here and now while he had the opportunity. But that wasn't who he was – not that he'd be _able_ to kill Savage, anyways. The man was an enhanced immortal. He had to have more tricks up his sleeves than Wally could count. Even with his speed, there was a good chance he'd win in a fight. Then there was the matter of Jinx. Wally couldn't let Jinx die, not for some ill-thought-out revenge plot. Nothing would be gained by killing Savage.

That didn't dull the urge, of course.

Nevertheless, they made it back to Wally's cell without Wally killing Savage. He was quickly locked into the room, chest heaving, and fists clenched.

A clatter from behind him sent Wally whirling around, fists brought up in a defensive pose. It was just Jinx, a broken, horrified expression on her face, the knife she'd been holding to her throat dropped down onto the ground next to her. Wally swallowed. He didn't know how to deal with this. Was there _anyone_ who knew how to deal with this?

Jinx turned, purple-pink eyes glowing with grief. Tears quickly welled in her eyes and Wally zipped over to her, immediately pulling her into his embrace. Neither of them was particularly comfortable with human contact, but he figured they could deal with it for right now, for this moment of assurance.

Jinx clawed into his back, trying to pull him as close as she could, sobs tearing out through her thin chest, breaths heaving out of her. Wally blinked back his own tears, swallowed the pain that came with any sort of movement (especially movement that included being crushed into a frantic girl's chest), and just quietly soothed Jinx to the best of his abilities.

Her tears tapered off pretty quickly, leaving her drained and shattered against Wally's chest. Wally closed his eyes, grief for the girl next to him taking over. He rested his chin on her head, trying to pull himself back together again.

After another long moment of silence, Jinx sniffled, voice trying to go hard, but too wrecked to sound anything but _sad_ , "We need to get out of here."

"I don't know if we can. I don't think I can get you far enough away fast enough. They're going to activate whatever mind control they have over you before we can get anywhere. Besides, where would we go? You _know_ they've got trackers on both of us," Wally said, eyes still closed.

Jinx swallowed harshly, "I mean, they already know the location of the Team's headquarters. So, um, it wouldn't hurt to go there."

Wally smothered a snort, "I'm sorry, did the great Jinx just suggest that we go to the _Team_ for help?" Instead of huffing and rolling her eyes like Wally had been aiming for, Jinx's eyes welled with tears again. Frantically, Wally assured her, "It's okay, it's okay."

Shaking her head, Jinx started crying again. Wally tried to contain a sigh. As much as he needed to reassure her, he really didn't have the words and they really did need to get out of here. She made a good point about the Team's HQ – Wally's capture from that location told him that the Light obviously knew where it was. They wouldn't be compromising anyone by going there. The hard part was getting out. There was no way that Wally was going to be able to get through the locks on that door. He just didn't have the skill.

Wally smoothed a hand over Jinx's hair, "Would you be able to blast through the door?"

Frowning in concentration, Jinx raised her hands, pink floating off of her fingertips until it enveloped her hands. She'd just built up a good charge when she bent over, a short scream forced out of her before it abruptly cut off. Jinx clapped her hands over a spot on the back of her neck, wincing in pain. Wally half-stood, "Do they have one of these chips in you?"

"No. They don't. I… I don't know what that was. I… it must have been whatever is controlling me. Wally, I don't think that – that I'll be able to leave," Jinx said.

"You can do it, Jinx. You have to see that they're wrong by now," Wally said, frown overtaking his features.

Jinx shook her head, "That's not what I meant. I don't think they're going to _let_ me leave. They're just going to control me before I can get out. They can obviously tell when I'm using my powers. They're probably coming to check on us now. You need to get out now, Wally."

"You can't be serious," Wally said, shaking his head, "I won't leave you here. No matter what I said earlier, you're still a part of the Circus. You'll always be one of us. I _won't_ leave you."

"You're not going to have a choice!" Jinx shouted, "I made a mistake and now we're both paying for it. You need to get out while you still have a chance."

Wally kept shaking his head, "We'll just wait it out, wait until they have their guard down again. We can escape in a couple of days."

Jinx growled to herself, starting to run her hand through her hair before wincing and glancing back down at her injured arms. She hugged herself instead, "Wally, please listen to me. I really mean it this time. The Big Day? The day that all of the Light's planning has been going towards? That's tomorrow – well, tonight at this point. You _need_ to get out of here. You need to tell the others what information I have. As a… as a show of good faith, the Light gave me a little bit more information about the plan. I still don't know everything, but I know enough. Red Arrow _is_ the mole. Once he is allowed onto the Watchtower – the Justice League headquarters or whatever, - he's going to put whatever they've put on me on all the other Justice League members."

"They're going to have control of whichever Justice League members Red Arrow can get his hands on," Wally realized with a sort of dull, dawning horror. This was unbelievable.

Jinx nodded frantically, glancing momentarily back towards the door, "I don't know what they're going to do with the Justice League, but yeah. They're going to have control of all of them. You have to stop that. Please."

"They're going to kill you," Wally said desperately, begging Jinx to understand.

The slump in Jinx's shoulders, the tears still hanging in the corners of her eyes, the wobble to her voice told Wally that she _did_ understand, "There are too many others out there that need saving. I'm just one person. I'm not worth all that."

"You are to me," Wally said, eyes filling with their own tears.

Jinx took in a shuddering breath, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Wally said. For all that Jinx was worth the world to him, he had to make a decision: Jinx or the world. The Circus wouldn't have a chance against the Justice League. There was just no way. Especially if they managed to infect the Team or get the Team to join them or whatever. Without the knowledge of the Light's plans, the Circus was going to lose, and Wally was going to lose everyone.

Wally took one more moment to just _hug_ Jinx, pulling her tightly against him, no matter how much pain it caused both of them. Both of them were crying at that point, neither trying to hide it. Wally pulled Jinx in just a little harder, then let her go.

At that exact same moment, the door started to open, locks disengaging. Then, Savage was there, gazing at them with that sick, smug look that made Wally's vision flood red with rage. He couldn't pay attention to that, though. He needed to escape. With that thought in mind, Wally was up and running.

He shoved past Savage, the man only being moved out of the way because he was surprised. He'd really believed that his threat was going to be enough to keep Wally there with him. Well, jokes on him then. Wally was still crying as he saw a jet of pink out of the corner of his vision, Jinx's last action of defiance before they took control again. Wally couldn't wait and see how it ended up.

He ran.

KKKKKK

Kaldur hadn't felt good about making the League members leave. They couldn't arouse suspicion, though. With all of the new members being inducted into the League, the League was throwing a League wide party and if Roy really _was_ the mole (as the Circus was still adamant about), then it would look suspicious if Hal and Oliver didn't go to the celebration. The plan was too delicate at the moment to risk something like that.

Flash leaned back in his seat, rubbing a weary hand over his face. He sighed gustily, blowing out his cheeks dramatically. The one introduced as West grabbed Flash's hand, squeezing tightly and resting her head on Flash's shoulder. She saw Kaldur looking and gave him a tight smile. He nodded his head back to her.

Plastic Man nodded, "That's as good as the plan's going to get at this point. Without any more information, we're going to have to go with what we've got."

Kaldur nodded, "Understood."

"You need to lighten up, kid," Plastic Man said, eyebrows rising over his white goggles.

Artemis scoffed from off to the side, "You need to be more serious. This is a serious matter! Tomorrow is when everything falls apart if we screw up!"

"Oh jeez," Plastic Man muttered, "They're all like him."

Flash gave the impression of rolling his eyes, "Leave them alone, Plastic. Just because they're not scared enough to start making jokes doesn't mean you need to pick on them."

"I'm sorry, scared? I'm not scared," Plastic Man said, hand held up in the universal 'stop' motion.

Killer Frost laughed lightly. Vibe snorted, "Right. We believe you."

Plastic Man shook his head, "No respect. How about you, Firestorm? You know I'm not scared, right?"

Firestorm immediately answered, "You're obviously scared." The man paused for a second before following it up with, "Actually, he said that he didn't think you were scared. I think you're scared though."

Connor blinked incomprehensibly at them. Kaldur couldn't help but feel a bit confused too. Who was Firestorm talking about?

That question wasn't going to be answered then because there was a blur of wind and lightning around the room, whatever few loose papers there were sent flying. Kaldur blinked and the form materialized.

It was Wally.

He didn't have his mask, his eyes wide and green and filled with tears. There were tears all up and down his clothes, blood leaking through all of them, spreading over his skin. The multitude of scars scrolling up and down his arms were on stark display, accented by drying blood spots and some actually open wounds.

Flash was up in an instant, seemingly transporting across the room towards Wally. He reached out frantic yellow-gloved hands towards Wally, but the younger speedster recoiled, eyes frantically bouncing around the room.

By that time, Icicle had managed to make his way over to Wally. He practically pushed Flash out of the way, gently icing over his hands, letting cold mist trail over his fingers and towards Wally. Chest heaving, Wally started to calm down once the cool mist settled over his skin. He took a few more shuddering breaths, shaking in his skin. After a long, long moment, he had calmed down significantly, breathing mostly evened out. He glanced around the room, brow furrowing, "I was pretty sure that the alliance was dissolved last time I checked."

Firehawk let out a harsh, desperate laugh, "You appear out of nowhere and that's the first thing you say?"

Wally was still shaking, but his voice was even when he answered, "You know me. Never do the expected."

"We need to get you to medical," Icicle said firmly.

Wally started shaking his head before Icicle had even finished talking, "I've got information."

Icicle stared at him, unrelenting, "Then you can tell us while we're in the medical ward. Or if you're going to be really stubborn about it – which I can tell you are, - Flash can run and get the necessary supplies from med bay and we'll treat you here while you tell us." Wally stared at him for a long moment before finally nodding his assent.

Flash was gone in a second, appearing quickly with a huge medical kit. Icicle took it from his hands and forced Wally to sit down in one of the chairs, immediately working on treating Wally.

Kaldur gave Wally a nod that he hoped expressed how glad he was that Wally was back, "What did you need to tell us?"

Wally let out a short bark of a laugh, "Where to start. I've got a lot. I don't know how much you know, so I'll just tell you everything that I know. First and foremost, the Big Day is today. Tonight, New Year's Eve, whatever. It's got something to do with the Justice League."

Billy interrupted, "We've got all that already."

"Good," Wally said, giving him a grateful nod, "Because this is where things get bad. I've got…" he trailed off for a moment, eyes flickering over the Team members. Kaldur felt his heart sink in his chest. His worst fears were confirmed when Wally said, "I have confirmation that Red Arrow is the mole."

The Team immediately erupted in disagreements and arguments. Curiously, Robin was being quiet, eyebrows drawn together under his mask. Wally didn't even listen to their arguments, just speaking over them, "I don't really care what you think. That's a fact. Red Arrow is the mole. Speaking of, where is he?"

"He's being inducted into the Justice League now. Actually, at this point, I think he's already been inducted and is at a Justice League-wide party," Robin answered carefully.

Wally's eyes went even wider and he swore, low and vicious. Icicle leaned back a little bit from where he was still treating Wally, "Why is that bad? Isn't it good that he's not here if he's the mole?"

"No! He was _supposed_ to get into the League. That was his whole point. The Light has this control device or something. It lets the Light completely control people, no matter how strong they are. And it really gives them complete control. They were able to make Jinx do anything, even things with all her powers," Wally said frantically, seemingly not noticing the way the rest of the Circus members reeled at the knowledge that Jinx had been being controlled. Kaldur wondered how long she'd been under their control. Wally continued speaking, "Red Arrow is supposed to get accepted into the Justice League and then put those control devices on the Leaguers. He's going to have perfect access to _all of them at the same time_ tonight. That's bad news!"

"You're saying that every single League member at that party is going to be mind controlled by the Light?" Artemis reiterated, trying to blink away her shock.

Wally nodded, "Yes! Exactly. That's why it's a bad thing that Red Arrow is not here. For all we know, he could already have them under the Light's control."

"What about Jinx?" Changeling asked, voice painfully hopeful.

Wally's shoulders slumped and his eyes slipped closed, "I… I couldn't escape and bring her with me at the same time. They – it just… it wouldn't have worked. I couldn't bring her with me. I don't know what they've done to her. I just have to hope that they'll keep her alive. As a hostage or as another slave to the control device, I don't know."

Maser's voice was small when he asked, "Did they do to her what they did to you?"

A muscle in Wally's jaw jumped and his hands clenched slightly, "No. And we don't need to talk about what happened to Jinx and I at the moment, alright? All that matters right now is whatever plan you guys have to deal with the Light, the added information that I gave you, and the knowledge that Jinx is still with the Light. We can deal with the how and what happened later, okay? I – I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it." He was shaking again, breaths coming through slightly raggedly.

Flash spoke up for the first time since Wally came back, "Are you… I mean, you're obviously hurt. Are you seriously injured? Did they do anything really bad? Why… why aren't you healing that fast?"

"I always heal slower after bouts with an inhibitor collar on like the one that the Team had on me when they had me as a prisoner. The Light… they didn't. They… they didn't do anything especially horrible. You know how some of the Light's metas have recently been able to not be affected by inhibitor collars and power nullifiers? That's because of a chip in their neck. The Light gave me one," Wally said.

The rest of the Circus members looked up in alarm at those words. Ballistic stuttered, "They _what_?"

"Thought it would make me more likely to comply with their wishes. Obviously not," Wally said, hissing slightly when Icicle started tugging on his shirt, "I'm _fine_ , Ice. I don't need to strip."

Icicle glared at him, "I can _see_ you bleeding through this shirt and you refused to go to medical. This is what you get. Deal with it."

Wally growled a little bit but allowed Icicle to tug the shirt up over his shoulders and off his body. Kaldur tried not to gawp at the pattern of scars that looped across Wally's chest, smaller burns and scars scattered between long, ropy scars. Wally glared at the gathered group, "Is my chest really that interesting? We have other things to talk about!"

Black Canary, probably used to the sight, recovered the quickest, "So you can't be affected by inhibitor collars anymore? That's fantastic! You-,"

Wally interrupted her, voice fierce and _angry_ in a way Kaldur hadn't heard it before, "It's _not_ fantastic! You don't-," He sighed, cutting himself off.

"I don't what?" Black Canary asked, expression creased with worry.

Wally shook his head, refusing to answer. West teased gently, her voice warm but laced with an undercurrent of worry, "You can't just start something like that and not tell us."

It wasn't until Icicle flashed Wally a series of hand signals that Wally relented, the fight physically draining out of him in one gusty sigh, "You don't know who designed it. You remember how Pierce said that the person who made the chip was an _ally_ of the Light? That wasn't quite right. More like, the group that make it was a _creation_ of the Light." He took a deep breath, visibly gathering himself, "The camps designed it."

There was a moment of shell-shocked silence. Kaldur didn't immediately get what was so important about that statement, what was so crushing about it. Then Changeling choked out, "You mean they _tortured_ me for over a year on the Light's orders? The Light that wants everyone to become metahumans? I lost over a _year_ of my life, became a hunted animal, hated because of things out of my control because the _Light_ wanted a little toy to make their _pet metas_ immune to inhibitors? I was tortured and experimented on to make other metas' lives easier? Metas that have fought me and kidnapped me? You mean to say that the Light created the camps that _ruined my life_?" He was worked up into a rage at that point, voice cracking every other word.

Wally sighed, far, far too tired for someone his age, "The Light was the one who started the anti-meta propaganda. They bribed and organized the right people to get the anti-meta legislature enacted all over the world. They were the ones who made sure that humans hated us."

Firehawk's voice was just numb, toneless and empty, "The Light is the reason my dad couldn't even look me in the eye when he sent his _disgrace_ of a daughter away to the camps to be _fixed_?"

"The Light's the reason I _hated myself_ so much that I turned myself in? That I decided to uphold the law and turn myself into the Collection Agency, too scared to do more than leave my family a voicemail telling them what I was doing?" Ballistic's voice shook, emotion vibrating out into the air.

"They're the reason that Wisconsin has the law that kids in foster care or group homes or whatever have to be tested for metahuman traits? The reason why I was taken away from the first person I felt like I could actually live with?" Billy asked, rage shimmering through his words.

Maser and Icicle didn't say anything. They just stayed there, silent and shocked, anger warring with despair over their features.

Kaldur felt his heart break for these people in front of him. There had been many times since meeting the Circus that Kaldur had felt for the plight of metahumans, had been sad because of their conditions. This was the first time that he truly, fully felt heartbroken at their plight. The knowledge that humans hated you because you were supposedly dangerous and untrainable was one thing, even when it was compounded by the experiments and the physical and psychological torture. Knowing that humans hated you because a group of villains arbitrarily decided that the best way to succeed in their goals was to ensure that you were put down and hated because of what you were born to be? That was another thing entirely.

Doctor Alchemy had stumbled into a chair at the news, horror written across his face. He mumbled, mostly to himself, "So many people… so much suffering. All of it just to make sure that the Light got what they wanted."

Vibe was frantically shaking his head, "It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense! Why would the Light want metas to be beaten down like this? They're the ones who keep saying that humans have to evolve into metas in order to survive!"

There was something dark and broken in Icicle's ice blue eyes, "You said it yourself: the Light needs people to evolve into better forms of themselves. They think that will happen if we face hardship. Those of us who are metas have already 'evolved.' What happens if we face even more hardship? More evolution. Only the strongest metas will survive the persecution. The Light's been – been enacting their own deranged version of survival of the fittest."

Kaldur felt sick to his stomach. This couldn't be real. There couldn't actually be people that horrible in the world, could there? Looking around him, looking at the shattered forms of metahumans who used to be kids, Kaldur realized that there absolutely were people that horrible in the world.

 **Author's Note: This is going to be a little longer than I predicted. We're coming up to the end of season 1 of YJ here. This story is going to stretch on a little further than that. It won't go into season 2, but it'll push out into that weird gap between seasons 1 and 2. Alrighty, thanks for reading!**


	40. Chapter 40

**Author's Note: It's been… it's been a week. Like, a Week™. But we made it. We've gotten through it. Thank you for reading this and sending in your support! Oh, also! Just a forewarning: I'm obviously not super intensely following the exact timing of the show's plot so please don't get mad about some of the weird timing. Alright, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – Yep, it's going to be Flinx. Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

The meeting had pretty quickly evolved back into a planning session, maps and plans being pulled up and drawn up and changed according to the new information. Wally was, quite frankly, impressed by the trust that the Team was showing. They had pulled up blueprints of the Watchtower (which no one else was even supposed to know about since everyone was supposed to think that the JL met at the Hall of Justice) and were going over them in great detail. It was incredible that they were willing to give that kind of information away to the Circus and the Alliance.

More impressive, however, was the plans that had been drawn up before the Team had been brought into the fray. A concerted attack on the entirety of the Light? Every base, every outpost, every attack centre? Taken down at the same time? It was genius and required an incredible amount of information and planning. Wally was impressed with not only his own team, but also the people of Holo City and the members of the Alliance.

Most of all, though, Wally was just glad that everyone could come together and work on this despite their differences, despite their struggles. There was a lot of lost trust and bad rumours and stereotypes behind each of these groups.

Darkly, Wally thought to himself that at least the Light did one good thing: they brought this group together.

Icicle leaned back in his chair, scrubbing over his face (creating an awful ice against ice sound that prickled at Wally's raw emotions), "I think that's as good as it's going to get. Once our forces worldwide are mobilized, we'll be able to really do something, but for now? We just have to wait."

"As long as we're waiting," Dinah started, voice sickly sweet as she turned in her chair to face Wally, "What happened while you were with the Light? And before you try to say it doesn't matter until after this is all done and over with, I disagree. I'd like to know what your mental state is before we go into battle with you."

"Wait, what?" Barry asked, "He's not fighting with us."

Kelvin let out a booming laugh but didn't say anything. Wally rolled his eyes, "I can still run and fight. The wounds are already starting to heal now that I've got more food and I'm not so stressed out. I'm fine to go back out and fight."

"No, you're not," Barry said firmly, not even bothering to offer an argument.

Wally's jaw clenched, "Yeah, I am. Look, I've fought in worse conditions before and I'll probably fight in worse conditions again. I'm _fine_."

Barry shook his head, eyes widening in exasperation. He glanced around him for support, "Are you serious? Are you guys going to let him fight like this? He'll get himself killed!"

"Someone's got to catch him first," Billy said, smug.

Barry's hands flew in the air, "How about Superman? If he's being controlled, he could easily catch up to W- uh, Supersonic!"

"Look, Flash, I appreciate the concern, but the fact of the matter is that I'm going to fight," Wally said, trying to shut down the argument. Barry opened his mouth to say something else, but Wally's eyes hardened, and he glared at his uncle, "No. I am going to fight. That's not up for discussion. You aren't my leader – you aren't even part of my team. You have no right to decide whether I'm going to fight or not."

Immediately after he said it, he felt bad. That had been the worst possible way to word what he'd said because, truthfully, Barry kind of did have a right to make those kinds of decisions. As of that moment, he was Wally's closest relative and therefore had some measure of authority of Wally's decisions. By saying that Barry didn't, Wally was essentially saying that he didn't recognize Barry's title of "uncle" to be anything but a title.

Which… wasn't too far off the mark. Wally had loved his Uncle Barry as a kid and he still liked the man now, but… Barry was essentially a stranger to him. It'd been nine years since they'd last seen each other. That was hardly conducive to a legitimate familial relationship. Wally didn't know him; didn't know the man he'd become. And Barry wouldn't see what Wally had become, refused to see the monster that Wally had been forged into. As of that moment, "uncle" and "nephew" really were just titles.

Still, Wally winced a little bit and muttered, "Sorry. That wasn't what I meant."

Barry smiled tightly at him, "I think it was, but that's okay. Once we figure all this Light stuff out, we'll have time to figure our stuff out."

Wally smiled at him, but he shared a look with Icicle the moment Barry had looked away. Would they figure it out once the mess with the Light was done? Wally wasn't sure what direction he wanted to take the Circus in after all of this. There was a lot of stuff they could do with the new information they'd been given. They could expand a lot. Oliver Queen was basically guaranteed to increase their money supply if what he'd been saying was any indication, so that was a good start. Holo City had relocated which was going to be a lot of work. Then there was all the new information the Circus had about the camps and the anti-metahuman movement. All of that would require a lot of dismantling.

And… and Wally still wasn't sure what to do about all of this, about seeing some of his old family. It stirred up long forgotten feelings of anger and fear and longing. He remembered the days when he was still so desperate to go home, to find himself back with his parents or even with his aunt and uncle. But those days were long past. He'd lost any shred of those feelings years ago. He wasn't sure he knew how to want his biological family back, wasn't sure he'd be able to figure out how to integrate them into his current family, wasn't sure he wanted to.

But those were thoughts for another day. For today… "Where are you going, Superboy?" Wally asked sharply. The half-Kryptonian had been creeping away, scuttling around on the edges of the room. No one had been scheduled to leave and he wouldn't have been so suspicious looking if he'd just been going to get some food or something. Wally hated that he was still so suspicious about things like this, but he couldn't help it. That would take a long time to heal.

Superboy froze, eyes widening slightly. By that time, everyone in the room was facing him. Kaldur was giving him a painfully innocent expression when he asked, "Where _are_ you going, Superboy?"

Wally narrowed his eyes at two of the girls in the room, "And you Miss Martian? Artemis? Is there something we're missing?" It looked like the two girls had planned to sneak away in the face of Superboy's interrogation, but the startled look they threw each other told Wally that whatever they'd been doing, they hadn't been doing it together.

"What's going on?" Vibe complained.

Superboy gave the whole room one long glance over, eyes hard and _confused_. Finally, his shoulders slumped, and his eyes slipped shut. He took in a long breath before blowing it out, eyes fluttering back open again. Superboy took in another shuddering breath, "I've been lying to you."

Towards the back of the room, Harold threw his hands in the air, letting out a wordless sound of frustration. Cameron sent him a sharp glance in lieu of a formal reprimand but didn't say anything.

Kaldur glanced carefully between the two of them before turning his attention fully to Superboy, "What do you mean, Superboy?"

Superboy frowned, expression going flat. He opened his mouth and closed it a couple of times. It worried Wally to see the normally blunt teenager at such a loss of words. He felt his hackles rise, shoulders tensing, Speed Force swirling around in his veins, ready if he needed it.

Finally, Superboy spoke, "I am not Superman's clone." For a long moment, no one said anything, all of them staring blankly at him in confusion. Wally's brow wrinkled; it was pretty obvious that Superboy was Superman's clone. Superboy grimaced, "That's not – I _am_ Superman's clone, but only half. I… Let me start over," He shook his head, "Half of my DNA comes from Superman. Half of it comes from… from Lex Luthor."

Killer Frost started choking on her drink, coughing and pressing a hand to her chest. The rest of the room was silent. The Alliance was staring at him with wide eyes, scared and nervous. Wally watched as Kaldur forced another question out, "How long have you known?"

Sighing, Superboy answered, "Since Supersonic was in that coma. When I went off on some personal business. I was… I was looking into Cadmus. I found… I found a lot of things, but I ran into Luthor. He told me who I was, _what_ I was. He gave me these _Shield_ things. They gave me increased powers – I was stronger, could leap farther, had laser eyes. They were… they were _addicting_. But, but Luthor. He _programmed_ me when he created me. He… I don't know what he knows. I don't know what I did. I only have one recollection of him _activating_ me, but I don't know. He's calling me. He wants me to go to Santa Prisca, to join him."

"And you were going to go?" Lorraine asked incredulously.

Superboy opened his mouth, brow furrowing, "I… I don't know. I don't know!"

Rocket made an aborted gesture towards Superboy, "Hey, it's okay. You didn't go. That's what matters."

"He would have gone if Supersonic hadn't stopped him," Julian commented idly, eyebrows raised.

Rocket sent him a sharp look, "That doesn't matter. He came clean."

Kaldur didn't give them a chance to get into a fighting match, instead turning his attention to the two girls, "What were you two doing?"

Artemis ducked her head, shame coating her cheeks red. Miss Martian, however, straightened her shoulders, a fire burning in her eyes. She swallowed once before launching into her own story, "At about the same time that Superboy was being approached by Luthor, I was approached by Queen Bee." She ignored the sharp gasps of her teammates, ploughing through her story, "She had been controlling a group of girls, threatening that she'd make them hurt themselves if I didn't listen to her story." Wally winced, the story reminding him of his own time with the Light, that sharp knife pressed against Jinx's neck, Jinx trying to take her own life when she came out of her trances. Miss Martian sent him a curious glance, but kept speaking, "She has… she has some information on me that I did not want all of you to know and she said she would tell you if I didn't agree to work with her. She hasn't called on me until now, but she's asking me to go to Santa Prisca as well."

Robin's voice was soft and gentle, hands hidden beneath the table, "Miss M, you have to tell us what she's holding over you. So no one can use it against you again."

Miss Martian nodded, stealing herself. A flash of pain struck across her features, too quick for anyone but a speedster to catch. And then she _shifted_. Wally had seen her shift into other things before – it had been a little game between her and Garfield. Miss Martian couldn't turn into all the same creatures as him, but they'd been testing the speed of their shifts. Garfield had demolished her. Still, this shift seemed different, more intimate. Her skin undulated and bubbled around her, twisting and moulding itself into something larger, brighter. Slowly, her skin leeched of colour, leaving behind a white, pasty shade accented by bluish shadows and pink veins.

When she stood up, she was enormously tall, shape completely foreign to humanity, white as snow and distinctly alien. All in all… not the weirdest thing Wally had seen. Some metahumans came in strange shapes and sizes.

The Circus members were the only ones who didn't really react. They watched carefully as the Alliance tried to mask their immediate reaction of startling backwards as the Team rushed forward to assure Miss Martian that they had no problem with this form. Miss Martian smiled at them, shifting back into her usual shape, a tear already tracing down her cheek, "On Mars, there is a very big difference between green Martians and white Martians. White Martians are second class citizens, hated and discriminated against. Between that and the form that is… grotesque compared to the shape of humans, I was terrified to show myself to you."

Kelvin gave her a wide smile, "As one person with a not-quite-human appearance to another, trust me when I say you won't get any judgement from the Circus. And you must have seen how the Team reacted to me – and that's when you all hated metahumans. You all still accepted me. It was always going to be the same with you."

Another grateful tear slipped down Miss Martian's face, two more sliding out when Superboy came around the table to wrap his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. She leaned back against him, eyes closing, melting into his embrace.

Artemis broke the moment, voice shaky, "I guess it's my turn then."

"Do they also want you to go to Santa Prisca?" Lorraine asked, half sarcastically, half seriously.

Artemis bit her lip before nodding. Cameron swore viciously, lowly. Robin asked wearily, "How did they get you?"

Wincing, Artemis licked her lips, taking a quick breath in, "First, you need to know something about my family. I… I come from a family of criminals. My father is Sportsmaster, who you've probably all heard of by now. My mother is the _forcibly retired_ Huntress. On a mission gone wrong with my father, Dad left her behind and she was paralyzed and sent to prison. My sister is the assassin Cheshire, who you've all probably all heard of by now."

Wally raised his eyebrows. Although Artemis had hinted towards a criminal heritage when they'd had that serious conversation, she hadn't hinted towards just how _large_ of a criminal heritage she was coming from. Those were all major players in the villain world.

Sighing, Artemis admitted, "Cheshire approached me about joining her and my father in the Light. She said that I was hated here, that everything was going wrong, that Red Arrow was going to keep suspecting me. She told me that no one was going to think that I _wasn't_ the mole after they found out who my family was. She asked me to come to Santa Prisca."

Wally shook his head, incredulous, "How did they get so many of us? Red Arrow as a mole, Superboy, Miss Martian, Artemis as reluctant allies, Jinx as a pawn. They played all of us. They've been playing us this whole time."

Even though the mask covered a good portion of his face, Wally could still see the shadows across Robin's face when he answered, "They're more powerful than we thought. They have to have been working towards this for _years_. I wouldn't be surprised if _decades_ haven't gone into this thing."

"With Savage behind the wheel, it wouldn't surprise me," Firestorm muttered.

Artemis glanced between Miss Martian and Superboy for a second, licking her lips again, "You don't… you're not… I – are you upset?"

Cameron, surprisingly, was the first to speak, "Rocket is right. They fessed up before they did anything. Besides, this is a prime opportunity."

Wally flicked his eyes over towards his second in command, "Take out some of the heads of the Light, right then and there. Less to worry about skulking around the bases or during the final confrontation."

"They won't expect their pawns to disobey them," Cameron commented back.

"So, we've got minimal security and smug, but powerful people. We've got three available teams. Obviously, not everyone will go. We don't need everyone, and we need to make sure there's a team that can handle the final battle in case things go wrong," Wally mused.

Tilting his head back and forth in contemplation, Cameron mused, "Obviously Artemis, Miss Martian, and Superboy have to go. The Alliance should stay here. They're not used to any sort of fighting, let alone chain fighting battles. Besides, they need to lead their people. Obviously Zatanna and Firehawk are going to be out."

Nodding along, Wally finished, "We want about an equal split of metas and heroes left in the HQ. We shouldn't send both leaders and, although I want to go, I know enough of you are going to yell at me because I'm 'injured' or whatever, so I'd say Aqualad would lead the mission. Icicle, you'll go with them. Changeling and Maser will stay here. Shazam will stay. BC and Ballistic, you should go. Robin should stay. Rocket should go."

"Localized forces in the Bioship. Miss Martian should be able to keep it hidden," Cameron pointed out.

Wally nodded, "Miss Martian, Artemis, and Superboy should each take their own transportation. It's too suspicious if they arrive together – if they've told each other, then what's the chance they've told the rest of us?" Cameron nodded back at him.

Kaldur was giving him an amused glance when Wally bothered to notice the rest of the group again, "Were you planning on including us in your planning process at all?"

For a second, a brief, warm second, Wally considered throwing back a witty retort, allowing something resembling the start of a smile to crest on his face, the way he had before the coma, before this whole mess. But his chest ached at the thought of happiness (it wasn't real, not for him, his life proved that), of a smile (when Jinx was trapped with the Light, one last glimpse of her tear stained, blood-spattered face before he left, left her behind, betrayed her worse than she'd ever betrayed them). So, he just turned tired eyes onto Kaldur and said, "Jump in when you have an idea." It was meant to be a neutral, inviting statement, but came out with a bit more bite than intended. Wally inwardly winced. His emotions had been in a fraying, flexing mess since that cursed coma started. He hadn't had a moment to himself, with his family, to pull himself together since that began.

Although Kaldur seemed to understand, his shoulders still drooped slightly and any teasing tone that had been in his voice drifted away. Wally inwardly winced again. He was such a screw-up. Idiot. _Idiot_. Fool. Couldn't even do this right.

It was only Cameron's careful hand on his should that kept Wally from splintering then and there.

Kaldur glanced between the two of them carefully, "Your plan is sound. I agree with the team assignments. You could all monitor the situation from here, sending in backup if it was needed."

"Well then," Cameron started, "Better get going."

KKKKKK

Kaldur sat in the Bioship as he waited to arrive at Santa Prisca. Carefully, he switched his comms to one that just he and Dick shared, "Robin?"

" _What's up Aqualad?_ " Dick's voice filtered back instantly.

Letting out a short breath, Kaldur asked cautiously, "I want you to keep an eye on Supersonic."

Robin's voice was sharp when he asked, " _Do you think they got a chip in him? I didn't read anything when I scanned him._ "

Kaldur blinked, "That thought had not even occurred to me. I meant that he might be… unstable emotionally. He went straight from that mind prison to rescuing Billy and Changeling to being held prisoner by us to being kidnapped and obviously tortured by the Light. He had to leave Jinx behind. I believe he was regretful about it, no matter what she has done and no matter whatever happened there that he will not tell us about."

Dick's voice was wry when he commented, " _Yeah, guy's had a bad couple weeks._ "

Kaldur commented softly, almost a joke, "Supersonic has had a bad couple of _years_."

He could hear the wince in Dick's voice when he answered, " _Yeah, probably. Still, we're working on that too. We've got some plans. You know that the Alliance and the Circus has plans too. We've just got to keep them with us long enough after New Year's to_ hear _our plans._ "

Kaldur smiled for real that time, "One thing at a time, my friend. We should focus on this mission first. The Light will not be easily defeated."

" _Well, duh, but we've got a totally asterous team here – three of them who all are somehow working together. The whole time, I just wonder what the Alliance thinks about this. We know the absolute least about them. I think there's something going on with them and Supersonic, though. Flash was way too concerned about him for there_ not _to be some sort of background between them. But, anyways, the Alliance was literally built on the ideals of metas and humans working together, created before things really went downhill, still going strong even through all these years of hatred. I wonder if they see the Circus and us and see hope or if they see the destruction of their ideals,_ " Dick mused.

"That is… rather morbid," Kaldur commented lightly, "Maybe I should be ensuring someone looks after you as well."

" _Har har,_ " Dick commented. Kaldur could practically _hear_ him rolling his eyes, " _Anyways, you're almost at Santa Prisca. I'm going to let you go take down some bad guys._ "

And take down some bad guys they did.

Artemis, Superboy, and Miss Martian played their parts beautifully. Even Kaldur had almost been fooled by their acting, by their quiet determination.

That quiet determination was quickly turned into fierce fighting, though. The members of the Light that were there didn't stand a chance.

Superboy made the first blow, sending Mercy hurtling towards a nearby tree. Bane powered up even as Queen Bee's eyes glowed and Luthor slunk off towards the helicopter. Sportsmaster and Cheshire immediately moved to target Artemis, apparently deeming her the worthiest target.

Black Canary changed their opinion on that when she let out a might shriek, sending even Kaldur (who had been given the special earplugs that the Circus wore to protect themselves in fights at Black Canary's side) reeling a little bit. He hadn't expected her to be _that_ loud. Black Canary's eyes were blazing as she swung a leg, higher than Kaldur had ever seen. Cheshire ducked under it, but Sportsmaster received the full blow straight to his mask, sending him spinning into Artemis, knocking the two back down.

Artemis growled, flipping herself over her father and slamming him into the ground, getting just one good punch into his face before he started wrestling with her, trapping her hands in his.

Kaldur didn't get a chance to observe further when one of Queen Bee's metas slashed a fist at him. He stumbled back, raising a water bearer to block the next blow. The woman threw a flurry of incredibly strong punches at him, her glowing lines in the ground sparking around her bare feet. Huge, voluminous red hair whipped around her as she threw punch after punch at Kaldur.

He struck back, shooting out blows whenever he could. Flickers of other fights shone in his vision – Superboy _flinging_ Bane away, Miss Martian and Queen Bee glaring at each other with glowing eyes and blank faces, Rocket protecting M'gann while trying to fight another of Queen Bee's metas, Artemis grappling with her sister, Black Canary being tackled to the ground by Sportsmaster, Ballistic trying to shoot down Luthor's helicopter while defending himself against Mercy.

Kaldur needed to finish this battle, to help the others. He made a hard slice, aiming to weaken her favoured arm. He managed to get the water bearer through her skin, far too used to the experience to wince at the squelch it made. He pulled it out, ready to deal a final blow, but the woman merely grimaced as the skin instantly knit itself back together again, leaving her in perfect fighting form. Kaldur hissed out a breath. He _hated_ immortals.

He'd had to try a different tactic then. He didn't quite lower his water bearers, but he made himself less threatening, "Please do not do this. We can rescue you from Queen Bee. We are going to defeat her here. We can save you and bring you to a place that is safe for metahumans."

The woman bared her teeth at Kaldur, "We know about Holo City and we know that it has been abandoned because of the Light's efforts. I would be no safer there than I am here." She jumped into the air to avoid another of his hits, floating there. But she didn't try to attack back. She seemed content to talk for the moment.

Kaldur tried to catch his breath as he went to convince her, "We are already winning this battle. We-,"

She cut him off by slamming back into the earth, the entire ground shaking with her. At first, Kaldur believed it was a product of her incredible strength, but then the earth continued shaking and he realized that she had somehow created a localized earthquake. He stumbled and tried to keep his bearings but could help his tumble to the ground.

He grimaced as his arm twinged but didn't get a chance to grab his fallen water bearers before a large red mass was stood in front of him, clawed feet digging into the ground to keep Ballistic upright. Ballistic shouted suddenly, abruptly, "Sigrid misses you!"

The earth stopped moving.

The woman's eyes were large and terrified as she snarled at Ballistic, "Is that some sort of threat?" Kaldur didn't know either, but if it was, then it was an effective one.

Ballistic shook his head, "No, it's a promise. She had been taken by a group of supervillains, forced to fight for them. We rescued her. She's been at Holo City, using our work, our information, and any sort of information other people could give her to search for you. You are Xiang, aren't you?"

Xiang shuddered, "I… That's not my name anymore. My name is Gloss."

The look on Ballistic's face was terribly sad when he said, "No. It's not."

For a long moment, they simply stared at each other, red eyes meeting glowing yellow. Xiang too a shuddering breath, "Promise me that she's safe."

"She is. For now. She's going to fight against the Light with us. A lot of the citizens of Holo City are. I can't guarantee her safety then," Ballistic answered easily, honestly.

There was a long moment where the three of them were frozen in their stand-off, words hanging heavily in the air. And then Xiang shuddered again, red eyes glowing brighter, auburn hair whipping around her as she howled, " _Queen Bee!_ "

Her chilling howl silenced the entire battlefield. The glowing, sparking lines around Xiang's bare feet started glowing brighter, launching sparking, hissing purple fires into air around the battlefield. The light smoothed itself gently across Kaldur's skin, but he watched as it melted the flesh off the other metahuman, the man screamed as he collapsed into bone and ashes on the ground.

Queen Bee herself seemed to have wrenched herself from whatever mental battle her and M'gann had been having, eyes widening in fear as she raised her hand out towards Xiang. Kaldur wasn't sure if Queen Bee was trying to mentally assert control over Xiang or not, but Xiang didn't react at all, floating slowly towards Queen Bee, ground fracturing beneath her feet.

After a few more seconds of futile mental fighting, the colour drained from Queen Bee's face and she turned tail and ran.

Xiang had flown in front of her in an instant, ground truly shaking by the point, jagged points of it rising into the air around Xiang. Kaldur realized with a sharp, sudden clarity that Xiang was going to kill her. M'gann seemed to realize it at the same time because she flew up behind Queen Bee and knocked her out with a nearby log. Xiang turned glowing eyes onto M'gann.

The Martian swallowed, placing her hands out to the side even as battle against the remaining enemies continued (Luthor had fled, leaving Mercy abandoned and broken, but Cheshire hanging half out the open side of the helicopter). Superboy and Black Canary fought in concerted beauty against Bane as Rocket moved to aid Artemis in defeating her father.

M'gann started talking to Xiang, "Please, you do not want to kill her."

"Don't presume to tell me what I want! I want what I want, and I _want_ to _rip her to pieces_!" Xiang shouted. Now that Kaldur was no longer fighting her, he could take a moment to look past her shining green outfit to the amount of bruised, scarred skin below. It seemed as if the metahumans of Queen Bee's army had just as much horror in their past as the metahumans of America's camps.

M'gann's voice was strong and sure when she responded, "I am not trying to presume what you want. I am speaking from one _person_ to another when I say that no matter what this woman did to you, watching her be incarcerated will be far better satisfaction than staining your soul by killing her."

Distantly, Kaldur saw Artemis perform a roundhouse kick straight to her father's head, expression viciously gleeful as he crumpled. He saw Black Canary send Bane hurtling into a tree where Connor was ready to pummel him into the ground. That just left Xiang as the only possible enemy.

Carefully, warily, Black Canary and Ballistic stepped closer to the standoff. Black Canary called out softly, "Listen to Miss Martian. She's right. Queen Bee made you into a soldier, a killer. Don't let her win. More than that, don't you want to have as few kills on your conscience as possible when you meet up with your friend? I know I do. Sigrid _abhors_ killing – you know that. She won't judge you because she's been where you are, but the less you kill, the better."

Xiang took one last shuddering breath before lowering herself to the ground. She stumbled forward, one step, two. Black Canary met her before she could come any further, wrapping her in a comforting hug, running soothing hands through the wild masses of red hair.

Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, Kaldur put a finger to the comms in his ear. He announced, "We've won."

 **Author's Note: Look! A nice ending! I'll be real honest and say I almost ended it after Wally's POV. I was not in the mood to write a battle scene today (probably why it ended up being mostly a conversation, but whatever). Anyways, hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!**


	41. Chapter 41

**Author's Note: Here we are with another chapter! Read, review, and enjoy!**

DDDDDD

Dick let out a single, quick, shuddering breath of relief at Kaldur's words before focusing back in on the situation. Supersonic had narrowed his eyes at the blueprints and was zipping his finger over them too fast for Dick to really tell what he was doing.

Glancing around and realizing that there wasn't really anyone else around the Circus's leader, Dick walked over. He dropped into a seat next to Supersonic, leaning his head back and just sitting there, watching Supersonic's finger flit across the pages.

After a minute or so longer, Supersonic turned to Dick, "Did you need something?" He winced slightly before sighing, "Sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that."

"Rough day?" Dick pressed.

One of Supersonic's shoulders bunched up slightly, frustration lining his voice when he attempted to answer flippantly, "I've had worse."

"Have you really?" Dick asked. Supersonic should take a moment to address his feelings now, while they were still kind of safe, while they were taking a moment to rest and recoup.

Any sort of warmth in Supersonic's voice leeched out of it when he answered, "Yes."

Dick winced. Well, there went that conversation. Supersonic was incredibly difficult to talk to. And that was coming from someone who regularly held conversations with Batman. The worst part was that Dick actually wanted to get to know Supersonic. The teenage actually seemed like he could be a really good friend. Kaldur seemed to think he was awesome. Dick was sure that the two of them could be good friends if they just got a chance to really talk. And maybe this was the worst time to try to make that kind of bond. Maybe it was the best. Dick tried to be more optimistic than his mentor, but there was still a part of him that was very much Gotham and that part whispered that maybe they wouldn't all come back from this battle.

Grimacing at his own morbidity, Dick blurted, "Did you recognize me? When, when I was in your mind. Did you recognize me?"

Supersonic gave him an incredibly blank expression, "No. Should I have?"

Shaking his head with a snort, "Nah, I figured you wouldn't. Icicle didn't either. I was just checking."

Supersonic raised an eyebrow under his cowl, "It's not like I even have anyone else to tell even if I recognized you."

"I mean, if you knew, I wouldn't really want the rest of the Circus to know," Dick said delicately.

Supersonic gave a strong impression of rolling his eyes, "I don't tell the rest of the Circus everything. I don't even tell Icicle everything. The same goes for the rest of them. I'm the only one who knows Aqualad's name. Black Canary is the only one who knows Red Arrow's name."

The conversation fell into silence again, but it was a lot gentler. Still, Dick couldn't help but break it, "Do you think we're going to get through this alright."

"Yes," Supersonic answered without hesitation. Dick sent him a startled look. Supersonic shrugged, "The Light is scared of us. They wouldn't be trying so hard to separate us if they weren't. That has to mean something."

Dick gazed at him approvingly, "I hadn't thought of it that way before."

"Isn't that the point of teams? Each of us providing different ideas and points of view?" Supersonic asked.

Icicle's voice broke in before Dick could respond, "You know, Aqualad said the exact same thing to me when I was trying to contact the Alliance in order to get ideas for getting you out of your coma."

"Did he really?" Supersonic asked.

Lips twisting up into a little smile, Icicle said, "Yep. Well, maybe not those exact words, but pretty close. You two must be spending too much time together."

Supersonic gave off the impression of rolling his eyes again, "We spent _hours_ together while I was imprisoned here. The man wouldn't leave me alone."

"Well, who could resist your sparkling personality for that long?" Icicle teased.

The joke fell flat when Supersonic didn't respond to it, just muttering, "I'm going to check on Firehawk. We need to talk about her role one more time." And then he left.

Icicle's shoulders had slumped as soon as Supersonic started talking. His lips twisted back down into the sad little smile he'd worn occasionally while Supersonic was in a coma. Dick asked hesitantly, "Are you alright?"

The flat blue of Icicle's eyes radiated disapproval as the metahuman said, "I'm fine." He was about as convincing as Supersonic.

Dick tried to hold in a sigh, "You and your leader both have a pretty bad habit of ignoring your feelings."

Icicle's words were sharp as knives as he hissed, "And _you_ should stick to bothering your own people. We know what we're doing. We've been doing this longer than you. You don't have any clue what our situation is, so don't pretend otherwise." And then he was gone, sweeping off in the same direction that Supersonic had gone earlier.

Dick sighed aggressively. It was like the two of them actively avoided making friends. Flash must have heard Dick's aggravated sigh because he zipped over to Dick a second later, smiling gently, "They're pretty closed off, huh?"

For all that the Alliance was easily the most secretive group among them, their members were certainly a lot more open to making friendships with literally anyone than the members of the Circus were. Flash in particular had seemed to instantly hit it off with literally anyone he talked to. Dick couldn't help but give Flash a small smile, "You can say that again. There is literally no way to get them to really talk to you. I don't know how Aqualad did it with Supersonic. The two of them are actually friends, I think. I mean, I know that their relationship was more than a little strained after Aqualad, like, _arrested_ him, but I think they're still friends."

Flash was staring off in the direction where Supersonic and Icicle had gone, "I think once all of this is over, it'll be easier to get to know them."

Dick glanced at him, eyebrow raising again, "Are you saying that for my benefit, or for yours?"

Startled, Flash turned to Dick. After a second, he chuckled, "You really are the protégé of the world's greatest detective. I think you know the answer to that question."

"What are you two to each other? You and Supersonic seem like you've got a lot of history," Dick commented softly.

Flash shrugged, "I thought I knew. Or, well, I thought nothing had changed. I don't know what we are now. From the way he acts, we might as well be strangers. Then again, we practically are." Flash shook his head, a wry smile twisting his lips. Dick's eyes widened with realization. They must know each other from before Supersonic ended up in the camps. That was the only thing that made sense. Dick winced. He could imagine how that reconciliation might have gone.

Shaking his head, Flash plastered a brighter smile on his face, "Alright, let's head back to the group. We should probably check over our gear and stuff anyways. Hopefully the others will have rigged up something to negate the effects of those mind-controlling chips pretty soon."

Dick nodded, "Well, your people seem like they've got a pretty good handle on that. I'm impressed by how quickly they're blowing through that problem."

Flash's smile morphed into something more real, proud, "Yeah, they're pretty great. Supersonic had been able to give us a pretty detailed description of Jinx's, too. That was a pretty big help in making sure that we were able to start working on the problem."

"I wonder what happened to him and Jinx while they were with the Light," Dick mused, not really meaning to say it out loud.

Flash sighed, "We'll probably never know."

Dick snorted, "Probably not."

Flash opened his mouth to say something else, but Changeling skidded into the room before he could speak. Changeling was breathing hard when he finally got out, "Red Tornado just… crashed into the… the main room. He shut down pretty quickly afterwards, but then… some human looking… robot popped out of the ceiling and said… it was Red Tornado and it knows what's…. what's going on."

What. Dick blinked. He didn't even get a chance to really consider the situation before Flash was gripping him around the waist, Changeling scooped into his other arm. Then they were racing through the headquarters, colours blurring and swirling around enough that Dick had to close his eyes or risk being sick.

Then, just as suddenly as they'd departed, Dick was being gently set down, vision swimming in and out of focus as he tried to keep down the day's meals. Flash sent him an apologetic glance, but didn't say anything, looking instead towards where Supersonic was glaring down a humanoid Red Tornado.

Dick rushed towards them quickly, barely able to avoid stumbling, "Wait, that's John Smith."

"That's _who_?" Vibe asked incredulously.

"John Smith," Zatanna breathed, "That's Red Tornado's human form. He must have transferred his consciousness to that form." She frowned, limbs twitching uselessly against her casts, "There's something wrong. There is some sort of… mystic energy at work here. It does not feel friendly."

The whole room puffed up, immediately going into defensive stances. Dick wanted to roll his eyes. Sure, being prepared was great, but really? What did they think they were going to do against a not friendly _mystic energy_?

Supersonic sighed, "Could we get a little bit more description than that?"

Zatanna snapped at him, "You seem to think it's pretty easy! Why don't you try?"

From behind Dick, Doctor Alchemy's voice called out into the room, "Maybe I could try."

Flash winced, "Are you sure? I mean, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to do anything. And I know you don't like to… you know."

Doctor Alchemy sighed, "I know. And I'm sure." Sighing again, he reached into a pocket, pulling out a small, heavy looking box. The rest of the Alliance cringed away from it – except for Killer Frost who only really seemed to care about something if she thought she could fight it. Carefully, Doctor Alchemy peeled open the box, taking in one last deep breath before grabbing something out of the box.

He had already been a slightly creepy man with his long black-green cloak and the old leather mask, menacing in the way that the eyes were completely black. Now? The creepy factor rocketed up ten notches. Doctor Alchemy seemed to suck the light out of a room, power radiating out of the folds of his cloak, hidden beneath his hood. When he spoke, it was with a voice of disturbed gravel, "What do we have here? Ah, Flash. It is always good to see you. Every time Julian allows me to open my eyes, I wonder if it is the time in which I will see you fall." Who was Julian? What was happening?

"I'm not in the mood, Alchemy. There's a mystic energy in here. Tell us what it is," Flash's voice wasn't that of the kind-hearted, gentle man they'd gotten to know over the past day or so. Flash was cold and _angry_ , an intense glare aimed at his own teammate. From off to the side, Supersonic was ogling Flash like he'd never seen the man before, an expression of complete befuddlement on his face that would have been funny in any other situation.

Doctor Alchemy, the sound filtered through that gravelly voice, "It is Chaos. At least, the master of Chaos was the one who wove the spell work. It is emanating from the android. The red one. Have I satisfied you, Flash? Does it please you to be able to use me as some sort of tool to bring out when you need it? I think it does. I think you find pleasure in _using_ those around you. When Savi-," the voice cut off, a cough breaking through. The light seemed to return to the room, the overwhelming sense of _evil_ dissipating. When Doctor Alchemy spoke again, it was with his normal voice, "I'm back. Sorry about that. So, what did I say?"

Supersonic's expression was pained, "I think the Alliance might actually be weirder than the Circus."

Flash shot him a look that was more disapproving than angry, and Dick couldn't help but wonder at their relationship again. He'd figured out that they knew each other from before Supersonic's camp days, but he didn't know _how_ they knew each other. Dick didn't think they were related – not with Supersonic's fire red hair and the wisps of light blond that sometimes escaped Flash's cowl.

Firestorm leaned over to Doctor Alchemy and started quickly relaying everything that he had just said. Dick didn't even want to get into whatever mess came with Doctor Alchemy and that stone that he was gently placing back into the heavy looking box.

While they were talking, Vibe and Supersonic had moved closer to Red Tornado's body, John Smith still just standing there. Plastic Man asked curiously, "If Red Tornado transferred his consciousness to John Smith, then why isn't John Smith doing anything?"

"He's still loading," Maser commented, leaning in towards John Smith, watching something in the air that only he could see.

Plastic Man grimaced, "That's weird." Maser shrugged a little bit in agreement.

Finally, Vibe made a small 'ah-ha' noise, pulling tweezers out of nowhere and grabbing something from the neck portion of the red android. The device pulled off rather easily. Dick leaned closer, a chill running through him when he realized it was one of the mind-controlling chips. Roy had already placed the chips on the heroes. Dick shuddered at the thought of Bruce having one of those chips on his neck. He'd known it was going to happen, but still. This was his family. Bruce was being mind controlled and Roy had betrayed them.

Supersonic's expression lit up at the sight of the chip, though, "Perfect! Now we can finish production of neutralizers."

Vibe nodded excitedly, taking the chip and walking quickly out of the room, Firestorm and Maser following quickly behind them. Supersonic looked like he was going to follow them, but a voice from behind them apparently made him change his mind, "What is happening here?" Kaldur was back.

Supersonic's expression twisted in confusion for a second, "Xiang?" The woman – a striking Asian woman with flowing ruby red hair – blinked in surprise, arms coming up to cover her scarred, exposed stomach. Supersonic's eyes flicked towards Black Canary and Ballistic for a moment before he softened slightly, turning back towards Xiang, "Sigrid has been looking everywhere for you."

Xiang blinked again, expression holding such fragile hope that Dick had to look away, "So I've heard. It will be good to see her again."

"Will you be fighting with her, or will you wait until after the fight to see her again? Both are viable options," Supersonic said. He didn't seem to hold any sort of suspicion towards her. Dick felt instantly, unfairly jealous about the easy acceptance that this strange woman got from Supersonic.

Her back straightened, expression sharpening, "I will be fighting with her. You will not keep her from me any longer."

Supersonic's eyebrows rose, "I'm not trying to keep anyone from anyone else. I just wanted to make sure you were alright with fighting against the Light. Icicle can go look to see where Sigrid is stationed, and Flash can run you over there."

There was an amused tilt to Flash's lips as he asked, "Do I get any say in this, or…"

Surprisingly, Supersonic teased back, "I don't know. You want to say no to her?" Snorting, Flash shook his head, grabbing the paper from Icicle that had the location where this Sigrid woman was stationed. In an instant, he was gone, lightning trailing where he had been standing.

From the other side of the room, West sighed, "I keep telling him to ask people before he just picks them up and runs with them."

The mood in the room swelled a little bit, the stress and sombreness of the moment fading in the face of the speedsters' jokes and West's continuation of them.

John Smith's voice brought the mood right back down again.

He made a loud whirring noise before he finally spoke, "Children, we are in grave danger."

Kaldur blinked at John Smith and the motionless Red Tornado slumped next to it. Dick requested a mind link through M'gann, and she quickly supplied. As concisely as he could, Dick summarized what had just happened, glossing over some of the details. They could analyse the Doctor Alchemy mess later. For now, they were just going to deal with what was currently in front of them.

Supersonic gave John Smith a wide berth as he walked over to Kaldur, "I'm not entirely sure I know what's going on either. All that I know is that the science geeks found one of the mind-control chips and are analysing it right now."

"Science geeks?" Black Canary laughed, "You're a science geek too, loser. Alright, why are we in danger?"

John Smith turned to her, "The Justice League is being controlled by chips that Red Arrow has planted on us. Red Arrow did not have control over his actions, though. He is in hiding, running from the League right now."

"So, if the League is being controlled by the Light, then Red Arrow is basically running from the Light. That means that he's probably on our side right now. That's good news at least. We should search him out. He'll be a good help," Dick mused.

Black Canary nodded, "Works for me. A couple of us can take Sphere and try to find him."

"And then we'll be able to go straight to the Watchtower. We've got the tech ready," Vibe announced smugly, grinning beneath his glasses and curly black hair.

Dick looked around him as everyone came back into the room. Maser was peering over Vibe's shoulder, Firestorm smirking a foot or two behind. Conner had gone to speak with Black Canary, M'gann's hand in his and Ballistic patting him aggressively on the shoulder. Zatanna and Doctor Alchemy were discussing something quietly, dragging a reluctant Icicle into their conversation. Killer Frost was attempting to stand off by herself, but West had sidled up to her, bringing Firehawk and a slightly confused, timid Dr. Thompkins with her. Supersonic and Kaldur were quietly going through their plans again, Artemis trying to listen in but being distracted by an excitable Billy and Changeling. Raquel was laughing, clutching her stomach as Plastic Man finished a story.

Three teams. Metahumans. Heroes. Humans. The whole world represented.

And for the first time, Dick was truly, fully convinced. They were going to win.

 **Author's Note: Alright there we go. Next chapter is a big fight chapter, so I needed to prepare myself for that one. Thanks for reading!**


	42. Chapter 42

**Author's Note: Alright! I'm back! I probably would have been back sooner, but Endgame gave me feels and I started writing for my Avengers story. But I'm back! Okay, big battle scene. Read, review, and enjoy!**

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 **Guest – Aww, that's so sweet! Thank you so much for the beautiful review!**

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RRRRRR

Roy settled onto the bare floor of the equipment cache he'd just raided. It was one of the few that he was certain Oliver didn't know about. He had no clue whether Batman knew or not. Dick and Kaldur knew, but they'd never tell Batman. Roy was more concerned that Batman's creepy stalker dad methods had led to his discovery of the place.

In the end, it didn't really matter whether Batman knew about this cache or not. Roy still needed to get up and keep moving. Staying still for this long was just asking for someone to find him. Roy just… needed a couple of seconds. Just a couple seconds to sit down and catch his breath. Then he'd move. Just a couple seconds.

The creak near the door told Roy that he wasn't going to get those couple seconds to catch his breath.

He was on his feet, arrow aimed at the intruders in less than a heartbeat. He almost let the arrow dip back into a safe position when he saw who it was – Kaldur and Supersonic. The latter was watching him suspiciously, almost hovering behind Kaldur, obviously concerned. Roy felt his eyes burn with frustration. Supersonic would catch any arrow he shot before it got anywhere near the intended target. He was screwed if he tried to fight.

Kaldur's voice washed over him, soft and concerned, "I am not here to capture you, Red Arrow. I simply want answers and your help."

"How do I know you're not under the Light's control?" Roy gasped out, resisting the urge to put down his weapons and pull himself into his best friend's arms. He pushed a little more, "Prove you're not being controlled by the Light. Who broke your heart?" He hated doing this in front of Supersonic, but there wasn't much of a choice.

Supersonic's shoulders jerked a little bit in surprise at the question, but he didn't say anything, simply continuing to stand there menacingly. Kaldur sent Roy a reassuring smile, telling him that he understands, "It was Tula, who left me for my best friend in Atlantis. And now it is my best friend on the surface world who is aiming an arrow at my chest."

Breath whooshing out of him in relief, Roy almost let the arrow dip before he remembered the other person in the room. He transferred the aim to Supersonic (even though he knew it wasn't going to do anything, even though he knew that nothing he did would be fast enough), demanding, "Now you. Prove you're not being controlled."

Supersonic scowled at him, "How do you want me to prove that? You don't know anything about me."

"Aqualad does," Roy said, nodding towards Kaldur, "Tell me something he knows is true."

Kaldur glanced between the two of them, lips turning down slightly. Supersonic's scowl fiercened, his hand scrubbing against the mask. Letting out a harsh sigh, Supersonic admitted quietly, "My name is Wally and I'm from Blue Valley."

Roy's eyes widened. He… he hadn't expected that. Supersonic – no, _Wally_ – didn't trust lightly. Here he was giving Roy his identity. Wally scowled at him, "What? What else does Aqualad know about me that he would be able to fact check?"

Taking a deep breath, Roy fully lowered the tip of his arrow, unslinging it and putting it back in his quiver, "Well, if you're going to trust me with that then… My name is Roy Harper." He held in his instinctual cringe. He hated when people realized who he was, who he'd been adopted by. He wasn't just Oliver's kid. He was his own person!

But Wally just nodded and said, "Nice to meet you, I guess. Can we get back to stopping the Light?"

Roy blinked, "Do you just not care?"

Sighing aggravatedly, Wally asked, "Do I not care about what?"

"Who I am?" Roy prompted.

Wally threw his hands in the air, "You're as bad as Robin! Why on earth would you telling me your name or showing me your face mean that I'm going to recognize you? The past seven years have seen me either in the camps or trying to run a city and an underground metahuman organization at the same time. Where do you all think I'm going to recognize you from?"

Spluttering slightly, Roy asked, "When did you see Robin's face?"

"In my mindscape. Can we maybe get back to stopping the Light now? Is that a thing that can happen? Because it's relatively important," Wally glared.

Eyebrows raised incredulously, Roy shook his head, "Right, yeah, of course. But you have to know something! The Light has taken over the Justice League!"

Kaldur smiled gently at him, "We know, Roy. We know that you put the Starro-tech chips on each of the Justice League members. Red Tornado said that you did not have any control over your actions, however. We now ask that you aid us in removing the Starro-tech mind control devices from the Justice League and in defeating the Light."

"You'd trust me to do that?" Roy asked hesitantly. This was too good to be true. Why would they trust him after what he'd done? He still didn't remember being the mole, didn't remember putting the devices on the Justice League. Those spots were just large blanks in his memory. He clenched his fists as he realized he could mark each individual blank with a moment where the Light used some sort of information against the Team. He'd been hurting Dick, Kaldur, and the others. It was his fault.

Wally's terse voice broke him out of his self-recriminations, "Kaldur trusts the version of you that's _not_ being manipulated by the Light. Miss Martian's a telepath. She could remove the mental commands put into your brain the same way she did with Superboy's mental commands."

Roy blinked, "The same way she did with what?" He turned to look incredulously at Kaldur.

Kaldur grimaced at him, "I am afraid that is a story for another day. As for today, we really must be going. Our plans are going to be put into motion very soon."

"What plans?" Roy asked, feeling suddenly wrong-footed, "What's going on? How much have I missed?"

Kaldur thought for a moment, "You have not honestly missed much. You know that you are the mole and that the Big Day is today which were the main surprises for our groups. The Team is working with the Circus and the Alliance and our three teams will be leading a concerted attack on all of the Light's bases worldwide. Zatanna and West will be coordinating the simultaneous attacks. The rest of us will be neutralizing the Justice League and cutting off the remaining members of the main council of the Light."

"The remaining members?" Roy asked, "What happened to the rest?"

"They'd gotten dirt on Superboy, Miss Martian, and Artemis and had convinced all three of them to join them on Santa Prisca. The three came clean, though, and we were able to trick the members of the Light. We ended up catching Queen Bee, Sportsmaster, and Bane. One meta was killed and another was rescued. Luthor and Cheshire escaped," Wally rattled off, eyes darting around the building as they made their way to the roof where M'gann was apparently waiting.

Roy frowned at Kaldur, "You need to adjust your definition of 'not much.' I've missed a lot!"

Kaldur smirked slightly, "I will keep that in mind for future reference."

Wally glanced back at them, eyebrow raising and the smallest hint of a smile curling the corners of his lips, "You are unnecessarily snarky."

Not really thinking, Roy groaned, "Tell me about it! Everyone thinks he's just the sweetest, most mature thing in existence. That's just because they don't see him being a snarky punk behind their backs." He and Wally were already sharing a commiserating glance before they realized what was happening.

Roy was honestly kind of proud that he'd managed to somewhat bond with Wally, but the speedster obviously didn't feel the same way. He immediately tensed up, glaring back towards the front. That time, it was Kaldur and Roy who shared the commiserating look. Wally was certainly a tough nut to crack. Idiot.

They finally reached the bioship. Roy felt a small sense of calm as he watched it ripple into sight. As much as he mocked Kaldur and Dick for their team of wanna-be mini heroes, he thought that they were actually pretty great. And right now? They were the only ones on his side. The Justice League was down. By his own hand, of course, but that wasn't really the point. The point was that the Team and the Circus (and, apparently, the Alliance) were the only ones Roy could trust. And they were willing to forgive him and help him and protect him.

He felt his heart swell looking at the bunch of misfits that turned to give him smiles as he came into the bioship. He was safe now.

VVVVVV

Vandal sighed aggravatedly when another _hero_ came back to stand before him blankly, reporting failure. How _difficult_ was it to catch a single man? A non-powered, newly solo hero who was actually a clone? Red Arrow should have been caught immediately, not still have been missing hours after he first made off.

That was what Vandal got for trusting his work to heroes. Even under mind control, they were incompetently annoying.

No, Vandal sighed, reigning in his irritation. That wasn't true. This plan would not be necessary if the heroes weren't so skilled. The work that the heroes had been doing was so excessive and complete that humanity had not been able to evolve. In the end, their skill was their downfall.

It was also, fortunately for Vandal, no match to _years_ of careful planning.

Still, Red Arrow's evasion skills were not part of the plan. A bright light emanating from the transporters distracted him from his frustrations.

His eyebrows lifted, the only visible sign of his surprise. Head demurely down, expression forcibly blank, Red Arrow stood shoulder to shoulder with Black Canary, Red Tornado standing in the lead.

Sneering down at them, Vandal asked softly, "What is this?"

Red Tornado answered concisely, "I intercepted the Team and the Circus on your orders. I was captured but managed to escape in the confusion following Red Arrow's arrival to the base. I have used the Starro-tech on all members of the Team and the Circus. I have brought you Black Canary as proof that I have the Circus and Red Arrow as proof that I have the Team."

Vandal could barely keep his delight from showing as he practically purred, "Interesting."

He opened his mouth to say something else, but Klarion interrupted him, features distorted with rage, voice a screeching irritant, " _Lies! They are all filthy liars! The Starro-tech is not activated on them!_ "

Snarling, Vandal motioned to the Green Lantern. How _dare_ they presume to trick him? Fools! Fools and liars! He sneered as the Green Lantern snared them in his glowing light. Black Canary strained against her bonds. She opened her mouth, pulling air in for what would likely have been a devastating Canary Cry. With a single wave of his hand, Vandal was directing Green Lantern to gag the woman. He had no time for her basic screams.

Brows furrowing, Vandal ordered new Starro-tech to be placed on the wayward heroes. He wondered how it came about that the three of them were together and able to remove their control devices. It was possible that Red Tornado accidentally received the order to retrieve Red Arrow and, upon searching for the man, came upon Black Canary. But why would Black Canary be on her own? It was possible that she had been searching for Red Arrow as well. She had grown close to him. Maybe throughout all of the turmoil facing the heroes and metahumans, she had found a reason to seek him out.

That would certainly be an impressive set of coincidences. It was a shame, then, that Vandal didn't believe in coincidences.

He leaned forward in his chair, steepling his hands and narrowing his eyes on the now kneeling heroes. He spoke to Klarion, "Something is wrong here. There is more to this situation than what is being presented to us."

Klarion let out an annoyed huff of air, pouting, "Why can't you ever just let things be? We caught some of them! That's all that matters!"

Vandal pursed his lips, annoyed. Regardless, he couldn't figure out a different angle that the three before him could have. The security systems here were too advanced for anyone to sneak on board. They couldn't have served as a distraction. Vandal leaned back in his chair, keeping his gaze focused on the three kneeling before him. He would figure this out.

CCCCCC

Cisco wasn't sure why the other teams were trusting him with this. He really wasn't sure he was a good person to put on the fronting party. Sure, he was able to vibe everyone to the correct place at the correct time, but he'd have to take out the first opposition they face without anyone noticing! He couldn't do that! He'd never had to fight before!

Sure, he'd been training, but there was a difference between training and actually fighting someone. Gritting his teeth, Cisco rolled his shoulders and put his hand out in front of him, a small army of people standing behind him.

This was also one of the largest groups he'd ever tried to vibe before. And he was vibing them into space! _Space_! Sure, he's vibed people into alternate dimensions before because once metahumans started popping up everything got weird. But still. Space! The Watchtower! To fight the Justice League!

This was all so, so insane. It was completely crazy. Bonkers. One of the most exciting and terrifying things Cisco had ever done.

Taking a deep breath, Cisco pulled at the core of his powers, focusing on where he wanted the other end of the portal to open. The second Red Tornado sent the message that he'd knocked out the security systems, Cisco would be opening the portal and ushering people through. The quicker they could get everyone through and close the portal, the better as far as Cisco was concerned.

It was Robin who told him that the security was down. Quickly, Cisco forced his power out of him, letting it form a twisting, undulating portal in front of him. Barry and Wally were instantly through the portal, ignoring the concerned glances some of the people from other teams were giving the portal. He knew it didn't look the friendliest, but still! It was rude to look at his babies like that!

Wally moved through it instantly, though. Fearlessly. Cisco was actually pretty fond of the kid for all that a lot of the others had pretty mixed opinions on him. He knew that a lot of the department heads of the Alliance were too wary of Wally to really like him. And Cisco got that! He really did! Wally _was_ dangerous and he _was_ unstable, and he _was_ a little prejudiced. But he was also one of the strongest people Cisco had ever met. Wally had gone through so much and still came out this well-adjusted? That was impressive in Cisco's boat. That went for the rest of the Circus, honestly, but it was mainly for Wally and Icicle.

Before Cisco could blink, everyone was through. Cursing at himself for getting distracted, Cisco threw himself into the portal, letting it snap shut behind him as he landed on slightly bent knees. Glancing around, he had to repress his inner fanboy. He was in the Watchtower!

Thankfully, it looked like he wasn't the only one having that problem. Even the Team members were getting excited at seeing the inside of the Watchtower.

It was Aqualad that brought them all to attention, whispering, "You all know your missions and have all the cure-tech you could need. Good luck." And then he was gone, sweeping off with Artemis and Icicle trailing behind him, sidling off towards where some heroes were watching the cargo hold.

Cisco swallowed harshly as he tried to pull in his breathing. This was stressful. What was worse was knowing that below them, on Earth, there were hundreds of battles taking place, too. Battles that included people he considered friends and families. He didn't want to lose any of them. But he couldn't think about that right now. He needed to become cold like Icicle. He needed to freeze his emotions out and only focus on the fight.

He nodded to Caitlyn, Ronnie/Stein, and Patrick. They would be going with him to start picking off Justice League members. The hope would be that they'd run into stragglers one at a time, but the Team had figured that Savage would be smart enough to clump the heroes together. There were enough of them that Savage could afford for them to work in groups and it'd be a lot harder and more intimidating for anyone who tried to fight them. One Justice League member? That's a nightmare to try to fight. Several grouped together? That was the actual worst thing Cisco could imagine.

So, of course, it's only a few minutes later when they run into a group of them. Shoulders immediately tensing, Cisco lets out an energy blast before any of them can so much as blink. Apparently, Atom was faster than Cisco thought he was because Atom shrunk in the second for the blast hit, leaving it to smash harmlessly against the wall. Cisco cursed.

Cisco took a second to breathe as Killer Frost lashed out at Hawkman, the hero backflipping out of the way, snarl covering his expression.

He took stock of the members of the fight. They were four for four, so they could each take out a hero. They were facing Atom, Captain Atom, Hawkman, and Starman. Cisco wrinkled his nose; the first two basically had the same name and the second two both ended in 'man.' How hard was it for heroes to be more creative?

Cisco squawked as Starman took advantage of his distraction to send a bolt of energy hurtling at him. He moved quickly out of the way, ducking and dodging the myriad of different coloured energy bolts flashing through the air.

Killer Frost screamed in anger, rage coating the walls and ceilings in ice. Cisco coughed lightly at the sudden influx of cold. The entire room had become a frozen icebox. Thankfully, Cisco had lived with Killer Frost long enough to be used to sudden drops in temperature.

Captain Atom wasn't so used to that and the metal of his skin screeched for a moment as it abruptly shrunk in on him with the flash freezing. Patrick took immediate advantage of that by taking his fist and blowing it into something larger (he didn't need to blow into his fist to inflate it, but he was a dramatic little bugger and did it anyway), smashing the fist into Captain Atom's side. The hero went flying, smashing into the wall with another loud screech and the sound of metal rending from the wall, sparks flying at the contact.

Atom took that moment to become Cisco's main focus. He launched up into Cisco's personal space, firing blasters at him as he frantically tried to backstep out of the way. Cisco honestly blanked out most of that battle.

He was vaguely aware of Atom rapidly switching between sizes, of him swarming in and out of Cisco's space, of him punching Cisco with _way_ more strength than he should have in that tiny body. Cisco couldn't remember a time when he was surer that he was going to die.

But he kept fighting and kept shooting his vibe blasts back at Atom. Atom was more skilled, though, more used to combat. He was more easily able to avoid the shots, more easily able to lead Cisco into other people's battles. It was annoying and frustrating and nothing that Cisco wanted to deal with.

When Cisco finally got the opening he'd been waiting for, it was thanks to Ronnie's efforts. Ronnie had been fighting Starman the entire time, the two of them flying up in the rafters of the hallway they were in. Luckily, Ronnie had been able to destroy the security camera before anyone got too hot and heavy into their fights, but Cisco didn't really have the time to appreciate that before at the moment.

Instead, he appreciated the way Ronnie's fire blast sent Starman hurtling straight for Captain Atom (who was trying to land a blow that actually did damage to Patrick's resilient body. The next moment Atom came flying in at Cisco, fist held out, blaster at the ready, incredible strength for his small stature ready to knock Cisco flat out, Cisco was ready for him. He opened a portal. Atom tried to stop his descent into the portal but didn't get a chance to do more but slightly slow down before he was hurtling head first through the portal.

Cisco opened the other the portal back up right in front of the still falling Starman. Atom didn't have time to do more than swear viciously before he was smashing into Starman, sending the two rocketing through the air with an increasing force directly into the perfectly positioned Captain Atom.

Cisco watched in satisfaction as the three went tumbling to the ground, heads smacking painfully off of each other before they lied there, unconscious. Not wasting a second, Patrick grabbed three of the cure-techs and placed them on the back of the neck of each of the heroes. Atom shifted slightly but didn't wake up which was unfortunate. As satisfying as beating the heroes had been, it would have been nice if they were still awake to help them in their fights.

Caitlyn's scream brought Cisco right out of his congratulatory mindset. His eyes widened as he saw Killer Frost fighting hand to hand with Hawkman, ice swords clashing against his mace, bits of the ice sloughing off with each blow Hawkman landed.

She was losing. Badly. The three men raced to help her, Firestorm and Cisco shooting off blasts at the same time Patrick used his arm like a slingshot to propel a piece of the wall that had come loose in their fight.

Hawkman evaded them all.

Cisco was reluctantly impressed.

Then Hawkman whirled around in a complicated manoeuvre and broke Killer Frost's leg. Cisco saw red.

He didn't even get a chance to get near Hawkman before Ronnie was bearing down on him with the wrath of a thousand suns, burning just as strongly. His eyes were glowing brighter than usual, fire literally jumping out of them as he snarled at Hawkman, blinding him with his brightness before sending brutal blasts of fire at his wings, his arms, his legs, his face all at once. Hawkman could only dodge so many.

The hero went down with both wings on fire, screaming even as he hit the ground. The sounds of his shrieks of pain would haunt Cisco for a long time. Luckily, Killer Frost put him out of his misery by frosting over his wings (gently so she didn't cause too big of a shock to his system) while Cisco placed the cure-tech on his neck.

The four of them stood there in the silence of the hallway, partially awed. They had just taken out four heroes. They did it. They had won.

Biting back an exhausted (these were only the first people they'd come across) smile, Cisco wondered how the rest of them were doing.

DDDDDD

Dinah grimaced when Klarion shrieked in unholy anger, sending a clawed hand through a pillar next to him, "There are intruders! They are negating the effects of the Starro-tech! Intruders! Intruders!" Flamed erupted around him as he made a complicated manoeuvre with his hands, pulling up some sort of swirling mass of energy and magic. Cold, chaotic eyes moved slowly to meet hers, "The new Starro-tech isn't working on those three."

Savage's fist clenching was the only warning Dinah got before Hal was bearing down on them, green light smashing Red Tornado out of the way. Sending Roy a look, Dinah opened her mouth and _screamed_. It was one of the loudest screams Dinah had ever managed, adrenalin pushing her to make this one really count. It sent Hal hurtling back into one of the walls, knocking him out before he even got a chance to really fight them. Roy shot an arrow tipped with the cure-tech into Hal's unconscious form.

Dinah was still catching her breath when the rings of orange-yellow light materialized in the corner of the room, leading six heroes into the room. Six _strong_ heroes. Some of them were part of the original seven. Dinah swallowed nervously, getting shakily to her feet. She didn't think she could take them on. They were… they were titans in the hero world. They were so far beyond her own abilities that it was laughable.

But right now, Dinah, Roy, and Red Tornado were the only things standing between those heroes and the rest of the teams. They could not fall to the heroes. They could not allow them through.

Beside her, Roy grit his teeth and stood next to her, expression fierce. He growled, "We are going to win."

None of the heroes said anything, but Superman gave them a nasty grin. Then he _moved_. It wasn't quite the speed of a speedster, but it was still a whole lot faster than she'd been prepared for. She didn't even get a chance to take a breath in before Superman was racing past her, blowing straight through Red Tornado's tornado. She grabbed the android around the waist and _tore_ him apart. Dinah felt her heart catch in her throat as Superman systematically tore off each of Red Tornado's limbs before leaving his useless body in a heap on the floor, sparking and emitting weak fizzing noises.

Dinah whirled around, facing the incoming heroes. Hawkwoman was the first to move against her, swinging down a sparking mace that Dinah just barely managed to dodge. Unfortunately, it brought her directly into Batman's path and Dinah was drawn into a battle for her life. Batman was one of the most challenging hand-to-hand opponents Dinah had ever faced. As good as Robin was, he still had nothing on his mentor.

Grunting in exertion, Dinah made to make a high kick straight to Batman's dumb cowl. A lasso caught her foot before it could make contact, yanking her leg away from Batman and out to the side, causing her other foot to either fall from beneath her or risk being broken. She landed hard on her back, knocking out any of the breath she'd been saving for another Canary Cry.

Gasping, Dinah tried to flip herself back up, but Wonder Woman was smart enough to keep her moving, dragging her around the room by the foot, causing horrible pressure on the ankle area. Dinah was going to have a horrible bruise there by the end of all this. She wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't walk on that leg for a while after this whole mess.

Out of the corner of her eye, Dinah watched as Martian Manhunter picked up one of Red Tornado's severed limbs and launched it at Roy's back. It smacked into him, causing him to stumble long enough for Hawkwoman to knock his bow out of his hands. Superman zipped in quickly enough to grab the bow, staring Roy down as he snapped it in half. Roy made a sound like a wounded animal, but kept his head in the game, pulling some sort of billy club out of the side of his suit, going after Hawkwoman with the weapon. Still, it wasn't long before the other Green Lantern (not Hal) caught Roy in one of his constructs, trapping his limbs long enough for Superman to grab one of the nearby handrails, casually bending them around Roy's limbs, using the handrails like they were rope, tightening them enough that Roy's skin was already reddening.

Furious at this treatment, at the way she was _still_ being dragged around the ground at a speed fast enough that she couldn't quite catch her breath enough to scream, Dinah waited for the perfect moment. Wonder Woman's path brought her around to a section of monitors.

Dinah grabbed one the base of one of the monitors, closing her eyes against the knowledge of the pain she was about to inflict on herself. She held on as tight as he could before yanking her leg in and _twisting_. The move pulled on Wonder Woman's arms, almost making her drop the lasso in surprise before twisting the woman slightly in the air, enough for Dinah to get her other foot over the lasso and step _down_.

Wonder Woman smacked down to the ground, feet creating craters with the impact. Dinah took the brief moment of respite to twist herself up and around, yanking the lasso out of Wonder Woman's hand. Her Canary Cry sent the Amazon hurtling into the wall, the lasso hanging loose from Dinah's foot.

Dinah reached down to get the lasso off (all it was at the moment was an opportunity for the enemy), but Batman leaping back into the fight made her lose that chance. She fought against him, bruises forming against her arms from his fists as she blocked. She grimaced when she missed another shot to her ribs.

Taking a chance, Dinah high kicked at him with the foot that the lasso was still attached to. The lasso swung up in the air, coming around Batman's head. Dinah reached out her fingers to grab it (she could wrap him up with it, choke him, smack him into the ground, do anything with the lasso trapping him between the magical rope and herself.

A green hand grabbed the lasso before she could, ripping her leg out of the air, pulling her other foot out from under her again, sending her head smacking painfully against the ground.

She let out huffs of breath as her vision swum in and out between sparking black spots. She tried to keep herself awake as Wonder Woman held her up, Superman wrapping another metal handrail around her arms. When she was wrapped up, Wonder Woman finally took the lasso from her aching foot. Superman grabbed her and tossed her into Roy.

With the last, fading remnants of her consciousness, Dinah hoped this was all going better for the others than it was for her.

RRRRRR

Raquel took in a shuddering breath as she watched Icon appear from the zeta beams, Doctor Fate following closely behind. It hurt Raquel to see Icon – to see Augustus like this. The two weren't related, couldn't be what with him being an alien and all that, but that didn't matter to Raquel. As far as she was concerned, Icon was like a mix between a big brother and another dad. He was the best person she could have approached about joining up with.

From the very first moment that the first sidekick came into the world, Raquel knew what she wanted to be. Robin, Aqualad, and Speedy were her _heroes_. They were so brave to get out there and fight all those incredible things. It was amazing!

And then she got her inertia belt and she learned to control it and use it to fight and she met Icon and she met the Team. Her life was perfect! Sure, there were hitches along the way and bad things certainly happened, but sometimes you need the bad to show you how good the good is.

Right now? Right now, Raquel was going to have to fight the person who really brought her into the superhero community and allowed her to be the hero she was today. She was going to have to fight to save the world and to save the Team that accepted her and saved her. And she was going to have to do it with a metahuman and a human who runs with other metas.

Taking a deep breath, Raquel whispered to the others, "Shazam should take on Doctor Fate while Doctor Alchemy and I take on Icon. We'll join you, Shazam when we've got the cure-tech on Icon."

Doctor Alchemy nodded immediately, but Billy paused for a long moment, staring intently at the two heroes. Finally, he nodded back. Raquel was about to call out for them to attack, but Billy took the chance away when he _sped_ out into the open chamber, slamming into Doctor Fate before anyone could even move. Raquel gaped at him; who knew he was that fast? They really should have sent him to go deal with Superman.

Next to her, Doctor Alchemy was gaping as well. Nice to know that Raquel wasn't the only one shocked. Still, they needed to get out there and help Billy. So, Raquel nudged Doctor Alchemy, hoping he'd get the hint. He turned to her, soulless voodoo doctor mask staring at her. She resisted the urge to shiver.

That urge only increased when he reached into his robes and grabbed out the heavy lead box. Whatever that box was and whatever it held gave her the heebie-jeebies. Doctor Alchemy pulled it out and gripped it, the brightness of the room being sucked out by his presence.

Doctor Alchemy stood and calmly walked into the centre of the room, heading straight towards Icon, completely ignoring the furious battle that Billy was putting on against Doctor Fate. The hero was shooting spell after spell at Billy, but the kid was just sticking his tongue out and dodging each of the shots. Occasionally, he'd dart in and try to land a blow, but he wasn't often able to do more than just smash a fist against one of Doctor Fate's hastily constructed shields.

Raquel shook her head. All this talk about not letting Doctor Alchemy get distracted and here she was, gawping at the scene in front of her. She needed to get her head in the game!

Shooting up towards the ceiling, Raquel floated there for a moment. Carefully, she waited for an opening. At the exact moment where Doctor Alchemy got Icon pinned by _something_ , she created a force field around him, holding onto it with all her might. She started carefully closing it in on him, trying to keep the field going even as Icon fought and pushed against it. She didn't want to be here, fighting her mentor. She wanted to be somewhere safe, wanted the world to not have people like the Light, wanted Icon to be _helping_ her instead of _fighting_ her.

But she'd learned long ago that you weren't going to get what you wanted without fighting for it. So she was going to fight for it. And she was going to get Icon out of the Light's slimy clutches as quickly as possible because that man did not deserve to be in this position. Gritting her teeth, Raquel let out a short yell as she crunched the force field into the smallest possible container she could possibly get it to be without killing Icon. She yelled out to Doctor Alchemy, "Get the cure-tech ready! On my signal!"

Doctor Alchemy gave a full body twitch and let out a short burst of _creepy_ laughter (possibly even creepier than Robin's cackle) before twitching again and nodding at her. Raquel didn't know what _that_ was all about, but she was going to ignore it and hope that she could still trust Doctor Alchemy to do his part of the battle.

Gritting her teeth against the force of Icon doing his best to break free of her force field, Raquel's arms shook. She could do this. She could do this!

With a short scream, Raquel grit out, "Now, Doctor Alchemy!"

She let the force field go and was immeasurably thankful that Doctor Alchemy had enough of his wits about him to slap the cure-tech on Icon's neck. Icon slumped to the floor, the fight leaking out of him as he sat there, trying to get his breath back. As much as it hurt her, Raquel ignored the hero in favour of the battle between Billy and Doctor Fate.

Honestly, they were pretty evenly matched. Then again, it looked like Billy was being painfully careful to avoid hurting Doctor Fate too much. Raquel grimaced as she realized that was probably because Billy was afraid of the repercussions after they took down the Light.

Pulling her focus back together again, Raquel swooped in, catching one of Doctor Fate's shots in a force field. Billy grinned up at her, "Thanks Rocket!"

She laughed back, "No prob, Shazam!"

She glanced back at Doctor Alchemy and saw him full-body twitching again. Concerned, she flew down to him, keeping one eye on the fight, "You okay, man?"

Breathing out very slowly, Doctor Alchemy used one shaking hand to put whatever weird stone he used back into the lead container. He slumped against the wall, breathing hard now, "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. Sorry. I'm really not the best person to bring to a fight. I'll take care of Icon, patch him up if he's hurt. You help Shazam." He walked away, still breathing hard. Raquel wondered again at the man's abilities.

She didn't have time to really think about it, however, since Billy let out a short yell and smacked against the wall. Raquel flew over and helped him to his feet where he wavered for a moment. Eventually, he blinked and shook his head like a dog, "Alright, ready to beat this guy once and for all?"

Raquel grinned, "Definitely! Oh, and Shazam? If you can, try to get the helmet off. I know this probably doesn't make sense to you, but it would mean the world to Zatanna."

Billy narrowed his eyes at her, but eventually shrugged, "Okay, I guess. Whatever helps."

The two threw themselves back into the fight. It was one of the hardest fights Raquel had ever fought. Normally, when fighting an opponent of this calibre, Raquel had the entire Team to back her up. Plus, she normally wasn't trying so hard to not hurt the opponent. Sure, she recognized that they were going to have to rough the heroes up a little bit. Otherwise, there was no way they would win. But they didn't want to seriously hurt the heroes, especially since they could use the help of the heroes to fight the Light.

Raquel coughed a little as one of Doctor Fate's ankhs smashed into her, sending her flying into a wall. Billy shouted out, "Rocket! You okay?"

"I'm fine! Just ready to beat this guy!" Raquel shouted back, starting to get frustrated. It shouldn't be this hard to defeat Doctor Fate!

And then, suddenly, Icon was standing next to her, expression fierce. He smiled gently down at her, "Ready to take this guy out?"

Raquel felt a smile creep onto her face, lighting it up. She grinned at her mentor, "Absolutely!"

As one, they attacked. Billy stepped out of the way, standing as protection over Doctor Alchemy, a soft smile on his face as he watched Raquel and Augustus fight together. Raquel created force fields to stop Doctor Fate from moving anywhere while Augustus punched him. They would whirl around his head, keeping him distracted from one side while the other attacked. They worked perfectly together.

And, finally, they took Doctor Fate down. Looking at his prone (and thankfully cured) body, Raquel felt her heart fall. It was awful that Zatanna had to deal with Nabu taking over her father like that. Turning to face Doctor Alchemy and Billy, Raquel bit her lip, "Could you two please see if you could get that helmet off of him? It won't come off without magic."

Grimacing, Doctor Alchemy grabbed his freaky stone again, stalking around the prone form of Doctor Fate. He tsked lightly, "I have no powers that will take off that helmet. The Helmet of Fate has chosen that man to be his host. I cannot change that." And then he let go of the stone, hissing quietly at himself, " _Useless_."

Billy frowned at Doctor Fate as well, "I can't think of a spell that can help him either. I'm sorry, Rocket."

Sighing, Raquel's shoulders dropped, "That's alright. I was just asking just in case."

Billy gave her a sympathetic look, "Sorry anyways. Ready to set up some traps in case more people come to the Watchtower through the zeta beams?"

"Always," Raquel said, forcing a smile onto her face. She would take down whoever came through that door and tried to hurt her or her family.

XXXXXX

Xiang held Sigrid's hand tightly, fingers almost numb with how intensely she was gripping the other woman's fingers (although, perhaps some of that came from the cold that constantly emanated from Sigrid's blue skin).

She sighed as Sigrid shifted closer, leaning her head on the younger woman's shoulder, "Do you ever miss our time with the Global Guardians?"

Sigrid smiled slightly, "Yes. It was good to be part of a group like that even if we were betrayed by metahuman haters."

"Sometimes, I wish I could travel back in time. I wish I could forget everything that has happened and start over. I would never, ever talk to the Guardians. I would let them travel right past me and let them choose a different hero to fill out their ranks. The secrets of the cosmos and the powers of the Dragon lines are beautiful, but not, I think, worth the trouble they have caused me," Xiang mused. At the time, having the Guardians, the creators of the Green Lanterns, choose her to be a successor for them, along with nine others, was something of a godsend. She had felt useless and left behind in her life, but they saved her.

It was not worth the years of torture she endured, however.

Sigrid leaned her head back against the wall, "I would care less about my mother's opinion, about my _country's_ opinion. If I had not been trying so hard to prove myself to my mother and the Norwegian government, I would not have allowed myself to be tested on, to be turned into this."

"I don't know," Xiang started, voice sly, "You look quite fetching with blue skin and white hair."

Laughing, Sigrid winked, "And you look _gorgeous_ with that red hair."

"So, we would ditch the powers and the trauma, but keep the looks, yes?" Xiang asked, grinning like she hadn't grinned since Sigrid disappeared one morning.

Grinning back, Sigrid admitted quietly, "And each other. The looks and each other."

Xiang blushed slightly, "Well, obviously." Sigrid gave her that delighted laugh again.

It was nice to know that Sigrid still knew how to laugh. When the two Circus members told her that Sigrid had been in her situation – prey to a group of supervillains who used those with metahuman abilities as their own little puppet, - she had been afraid that Sigrid would have become just as jaded as she was.

She was pleasantly surprised to meet the same old Sigrid. Sure, the woman was scarred (physically and mentally) from her time being mind controlled to do the wishes of villains, but she was still the bright, bubbly, beautiful Sigrid Nansen that Xiang Po knew and loved.

Abruptly, the plane they were in shuddered and shook, setting down somewhere. Xiang turned to smile at Sigrid, "Are you ready to defeat the Light, Icemaiden?"

A sheen of icy armour formed around Sigrid's skin and she tightened her grip on Xiang's hand, "Of course, Gloss."

Together, the two of them tore out of the plane and into battle. They would defeat this stronghold of the Light. They would destroy their enemies and save their friends. They would go to any other group of rebels taking down the Light and aid them.

The world was their oyster now that they were together, and Xiang was not going to let _anyone_ take that away from her ever again.

AAAAAA

Artemis didn't like splitting up the group the way they did. One of the groups was made entirely of members from the Alliance. They only started training to fight a month ago! It was ridiculous to leave them without someone who knew how to properly fight! Especially when there were groups like the one she was in, which was completely stacked with good, well-trained fighters.

She didn't even like splitting up the group! They should have gone altogether! Sure, there was a lot of them, and it would have been slightly harder to remain undetected for a long time, but Artemis figured that ship sailed pretty soon after they got in anyway. It wasn't like they were losing too much by staying together. It would be safer in the long run.

Still, she wasn't any of the three leaders and their decision was final. So far, there hadn't been any frantic calls for backup on the comms, so Artemis had to assume that everything was working out alright. For now.

Icicle whispered to her, "Stop brooding, it's so intense it'll give away our positions."

Artemis scowled at him, "I'm not brooding!"

In front of them, Kaldur sighed, muttering gently, " _Children_ , please behave."

Icicle ignored him, "No, really. You were definitely brooding. Supersonic is a master brooder, I can recognize the signs perfectly well. Stop brooding. You're not as cute when you're brooding." He gave her an innocent, sweet boy-next-door kind of smile when she turned to him, scandalized.

Artemis's cheeks flared bright red and she hissed, "I will _hurt_ you."

He had the nerve to _wink_ at her, "Kinky."

"We are here," Kaldur interrupted, voice filled with such relief that Artemis almost felt guilty for snapping at Icicle as she had. Almost.

The three of them glanced inside the cargo bay to see Green Arrow and Aquaman prowling the room, jaws set and eyes blank. It made a shiver crawl up Artemis's spine to see Ollie like that. It just… it wasn't natural!

Icicle was, obviously, the only one unaffected, "What's the game plan?" Artemis grimaced but didn't respond. Next to her, Aqualad took in a bracing breath. Icicle winced, "Sorry, it must be hard for you guys to see this, to fight against them."

"Have you ever had to deal with fighting people you care about?" Artemis asked carefully, eyes tracking the movements of the two heroes.

Icicle frowned slightly, "Only once. Changeling has this, ah, form, I guess? He calls it the Beast. Given the right circumstances, he can turn into the Beast and it's really quite terrifying. The Beast stops for no man and can _easily_ tear someone to shreds. Not an experience I want to repeat."

Artemis stared at him, horrified, "Changeling? That cute little kid? No way."

"That's what we all thought and then the thing almost took off _Ballistic's_ head. Terrifying, I'm telling you," Icicle whispered, giving an overdramatic shudder.

Kaldur took in one last breath, giving a small grateful smile to Icicle (it was only in that moment that Artemis realized that Icicle had somehow manufactured the moment to give Artemis and Kaldur a second to process the situation and be less scared going into the fight) before saying, "At the moment, I believe Green Arrow will be the greater threat. I want two people focused on fighting him at all times, but I want us all to rotate who is fighting which hero. Hopefully, by switching opponents, we will be able to disorient them."

Artemis and Icicle both nodded to him, suddenly serious. They couldn't afford to goof around right now. This battle, all the battles being fought today, was going to determine the fate of the world. No one could lose these battles. If they did, there was a chance that they wouldn't be able to fully take down the Light. And if the Light wasn't fully taken down, they would simply slink back into the shadows and start all over again. Artemis wasn't sure if they'd survive something like that.

So, Artemis was going to have to take her and Kaldur's mentors out. It was weird and uncomfortable and likely to be difficult, but they were going to do it. They had to.

When Kaldur called the beginning of the attack, Artemis used one hand to launch herself over the crates she was hiding behind, instantly garnering the attention of the two heroes. Internally, she quailed at the instant, blank looks aimed at her. Externally, though, she smirked.

Showing off a smirking face in battle always had made her feel more powerful. And she was going to need to feel powerful in a battle like this one.

Steeling herself one last time, Artemis quickly drew back her already loaded bow and fired. It was time to start this battle.

Apparently, Kaldur and Icicle had decided amongst themselves that Icicle was going to go for Aquaman first. He made a huge spectacle of his first blow, sending an enormous chunk of ice that smashed into sharp, dazzling crystals against the back wall.

Luckily (or maybe it was on purpose of Icicle was an even more skilled fighter than Artemis had known), the dazzling ice shards blinded their opponents, sending them stumbling into Kaldur's water bearers. It was the perfect manoeuvre.

Of course, their luck ran out quickly after that. They had started strong, but the two heroes were not only stronger than them but much more used to fighting seemingly impossible battles against a greater number of foes. The three teens didn't have a chance of defeating them in a traditional battle.

But, Kaldur was there. And Kaldur had a sense for crazy plans that worked perfectly. He only gave Artemis and Icicle a half-second's warning before he was slamming his hand down on the button to open the doors to the outside. And by outside, Artemis meant _space_.

She yelped as her feet left the ground. She barely managed to find purchase on one of the handrails next to her. Icicle grabbed a different handrail, but it broke under his fist, sending him spinning out towards the abyss of space.

His wide panicked eyes met hers the second before she reached out and snagged his wrist, dragging him closer to her. She didn't quite have the strength to pull him all the way up the handrails (especially not with the way his icy skin was smooth and slippery in her hand, cold enough to cause numbness to start creeping up the fingers; she didn't understand how Supersonic could stand to carry someone this cold around all the time), but she held onto him as tight as she could.

Artemis started feeling the slightest bit of panic when Ollie and Aquaman started to draw nearer to the void of space. What was Kaldur thinking? They didn't want to _kill_ their mentors!

Then, at the last second, Kaldur slammed his hand back down on the button, closing the doors with a loud, resonating, dramatic _boom_. In the sudden silence, the heroes' bodies unconscious on the ground, Icicle started laughing, shoulders shaking with the force of it. He grinned at the two Team members, "You guys are _crazy_. Remind me to never to go space with the two of you again."

Artemis and Kaldur grinned back.

Icicle moved over to the downed heroes and placed the cure-tech on their necks gently. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to wait for the heroes to wake up. Scans of the building told Artemis that Vibe's group had already joined Rocket's group in the zeta beam room. The only other place with detectable heroes was the main room, the one that they believed would hold the Light members. Robin's group was almost there, Flash's group heading there from a different direction.

Artemis turned to her two companions, "Let's finish this."

 **Author's Note: This is going to have to be split into two chapters! Sorry for how long it is and how many POV changes there are. Hope you liked it regardless! This is a stand-in for a weekend update because it took me too long to write, haha. You should be getting your next update next weekend! Thanks for reading!**


	43. Chapter 43

**Author's Note: I'm starting this chapter at 6 pm on Sunday, so we'll see if I manage to get this chapter finished before the weekend is over, yikes. Read, review, and enjoy!**

KKKKKK

Kelvin narrowed his eyes at the passage in front of him. He had an off feeling about this path but didn't know how to explain it. Something just felt… evil about that path. But it was the one they had sworn to check out.

Biting his lip, Kelvin finally whispered to his companions, "This doesn't feel right."

Garfield groaned, "Seriously? One of your feelings again?"

"You can start complaining about my feelings when they stop being wrong," Kelvin bit out, more on edge than he'd been in a while.

From in front of them, Flash chuckled, "What, exactly, is your feeling telling you?"

"Are you mocking me?" Kelvin asked incredulously.

Flash put his arms up in supplication, "Since I'm pretty sure you could kill me just by looking at me, no, I'm not mocking you. Honest question, I swear! I haven't really worked with you guys; I don't know how this works. Maybe you have some powers that give you weird feelings or something, don't ask me."

Kelvin snorted, "Nope. Only powers I've got are being ugly."

Garfield leaped in the air, switching into some sort of monkey (Kelvin wasn't sure what kind; the only people who could reliably identify the animals Garfield turned into were the teen himself, Wally, and, surprisingly, Lorraine) and landing nimbly on Kelvin's shoulder. He screeched loudly in Kelvin's sensitive ear. Kelvin scowled and knocked Garfield off his shoulder. The show-off did a flip in the air, landing as a cheetah who stalked ahead of them.

Flash was raising his eyebrows at the two of them with enough judgement that Kelvin felt the need to explain, "Supersonic's got this thing where he wants us to think more positively and he decided to train positive thinking into us. Whenever one of us says something negative about ourselves, he's got anyone who's near trained to do something annoying in response. The hope is that we'll stop saying that kind of stuff about ourselves just to stop the others from being obnoxious. Of course, those of us stuck with Changeling has it the worst because he's a little menace." Garfield gave a cheetah's equivalent laugh ahead of them.

Flash smiled, what little part of his expression that was visible softening, "Supersonic certainly cares about others, doesn't he?"

Kelvin shared a small look with Garfield before answering slowly, "Yeah, he certainly does. A little too much, sometimes, but who are we to judge?" He didn't know how he felt about being in the same room as Wally's uncle, about working with the man. He could only imagine how Wally felt. Certainly, Wally and his uncle hadn't gotten on as well as Harold and his had. Then again, Harold and Hal basically lived together, so that was a little different. Still, Wally hadn't really welcomed his uncle back into his life with wide open arms. Kelvin was pretty sure that was mainly because all of those years in the camps had made Wally so untrusting, but he wasn't completely sure and that made him wary of the Flash.

Flash opened his mouth to say something else, but a different voice stopped them all in their tracks, "I don't know. I'm rather thankful for Supersonic's propensity to care for people a little too much. It worked out for me, at least." Jinx. That was Jinx.

Kelvin stared at her, eyes wide as he took in the blood staining her clothes, making her look like some kind of extra in a horror movie. He was still scanning her over for injuries when Garfield shifted back to human, nose twitching, voice a deep growl, "That's Supersonic's blood. Only a little bit of it is hers, but most is Supersonic's."

Body jerking in surprise, Kelvin stared back at her. With the way that blood was, the _amount_ of it… there was nothing else that could have happened. Kelvin's mouth was dry with horror, "You tortured him."

For a second, a brief, glorious second, their Jinx peeked through the haze of mind control that the Light had pressed onto her. Her eyes widened and she was reaching behind her, aiming for the Starro tech which had to be on her neck. Then the control snapped neatly back into place, leaving behind a mostly empty shell again. Flash flinched. Garfield growled, the sound raising the hair on Kelvin's neck.

Jinx smirked at the green teen, "Don't worry, I've got a little pet for you to play with."

The words were barely out of her mouth before Teekl was hurtling out of nowhere, slamming into the still human Garfield. Even as the kid was flipping through the air, the echoes of crunching bones still ringing around the hallway, he transformed. When he landed, he was in the form of a jaguar, huge muscles bunched under his skin as he hissed at Teekl. The witch boy's familiar hissed back, growing larger, cutting Garfield off from the rest of the group. Garfield couldn't transform into any of his really big animals because there just wasn't enough room in the hallways of the Watchtower. They obviously weren't made for fighting in.

Jinx pulled Kelvin's attention back to her, "Teekl's going to take care of Changeling, so don't worry about them. I'd worry about me instead." Her skin lit up pink, delicate shadows cast over the walls from the glowing pink orbs surrounding her fists.

Kelvin frowned at her, "Please, Jinx. You don't have to do this. I know you're strong enough to break control. You don't even have to break the control completely. We've got something for that. Just let us help you by giving us an opportunity."

It didn't work. Jinx's smirk just grew wider before she launched into battle.

Both sides had some advantages and some disadvantages. On the plus side, Kelvin wasn't fighting alone like Jinx was. He also knew how she fought, but she didn't know how Flash fought. Jinx was worse at hand-to-hand combat than he was. On the negative side, Jinx knew how to fight Kelvin and a speedster at the same time. Jinx's powers were incredibly strong, probably some of the strongest of their group. Flash had been learning to seriously fight for only a month which was not even close to enough time.

For all that Jinx was a slip of a girl fighting two huge adults, the fight was still more evenly matched than Kelvin would have preferred. Still, they had to do what they had to do. Kelvin would be glad to have Jinx back at home where she belonged. Sure, she had betrayed them before she had any Starro tech implanted on her, but they were all partially at fault for that and Kelvin was hopeful that any sort of doubt or pain that had caused her to go to the wrong side will be erased soon.

Gritting his teeth, Kelvin decided that he needed to stop lollygagging and actually get on with the battle. They were supposed to meet the others in the main control room, and they couldn't afford to be tied up too long with this battle.

Without any further thought, Kelvin charged forward. Jinx threw chunks of the wall at him repeatedly, but he slung one of his large weapons over his shoulder and blasted them all out of the way before they could touch him. Sure, she's trained against a speedster before, but so had he.

While he was blasting shrapnel out of the way, Flash was inching as quickly as he dared around the side of the room. He looked like he hoped he'd been forgotten by Jinx. Kelvin wished he could tell him that Jinx hadn't forgotten him, that she was just playing with her food. It was a habit that Wally had never been able to break her of.

Kelvin was still desperately trying to get closer to Jinx when she finally made her move against the Flash. He had gotten close enough to sprint for her, cure-tech held out in his hand, ready to be activated as soon as it touched her skin. She tripped him. Plain and simple, she knocked his feet out right from underneath him. Then, still keeping Kelvin occupied with one hand, Jinx used her other to pick up the dropped cure-tech. She narrowed her eyes at it before raising and eyebrow and shrugging, "Yortsed lla srehto ekil ti." That was… that was some of Zatanna's magic. Looks like the magician had managed to teach Jinx some stuff after all.

With burgeoning dismay and a few choice curse words, Kelvin felt all of the cure-tech he had on him exploding. Garfield's yelp from behind him told him that it was happening to the others as well. Jinx looked over them like they were a particularly average experiment, "Hm… I'm not quite strong enough at that type of magic to destroy more of these devices than those in this room. I suppose that will have to be enough for now."

Kelvin felt dread settle over him completely. The three of them had no way to cure Jinx when the time came. They'd have to keep her incapacitated long enough for someone else to come and get her, putting one of their cure-techs on her. It was a daunting task, especially since it hurt Kelvin to think of hurting Jinx. He thought of all of the kids of the Circus like they were his own children sometimes.

Growling deep in his chest, Kelvin started forward again, pulling out another gun and shooting it as quickly as he could at Jinx. He hoped that Flash figured out what his plan was. Jinx was strong, but she was only so good at multitasking. If they overwhelmed her with a lot of fast-acting attacks, then there was a chance that they could take her down. All Ballistic could do was keep himself protected from her barrage of debris and shoot at her with his other hand, but Flash should be able to do something else.

Thankfully, Flash seemed to understand because he immediately started zipping around Jinx, getting in small little punches as often as he could (which wasn't as often as Kelvin would have liked). Jinx retaliated by knocking things into Flash from behind, sometimes having to manually block him when he got close enough.

The two were getting _somewhere_ fighting her, but it wasn't _enough_. The sadistic smile that took over Jinx's expression confirmed that thought.

With one single thought and an enormous burst of pink energy, Flash and Ballistic were both sent flying back, slamming into the walls behind them. Kelvin groaned as he slid to the ground; what did they make those walls out of?

Flash was out cold, but Kelvin knew that speedsters could recover from being unconscious remarkably quickly. He just had to hope it was quickly enough. He felt Jinx's hot pink powers clasp almost tenderly over his wrists, pulling them behind his back and holding them there. They did the same with Flash, dragging him upright when he continued to lay there, unconscious.

From the other side of the hallway, Teekl had pinned a bruised, bleeding Garfield in eagle form to the ground, huge teeth concerningly close to the teen's face. Kelvin jerked forward on instinct, wanting those teeth _away_ from Garfield. The bonds holding his hands together didn't let him get anywhere, but Jinx threw a sharp command at Teekl, "Take him. _Alive_."

Teekl hissed at her, but still was somewhat gentle as he side-swiped Garfield's eagle form with one massive paw, knocking him unconscious and forcing him back to human form. Kelvin _ached_ with the need to go make sure that the kid was alright, but Teekl was gently picking Changeling up in his mouth, trotting out of the room, leaving Jinx to raise a single finger, lifting Ballistic and Flash into the air to float behind her down the hallways.

Under his breath, unable to do anything else, Kelvin cursed soundly. He can only hope that this little adventure is going better for the rest of the groups.

WWWWWW

"This is going horribly!" Robin cackles gleefully before hopping literally onto Batman's shoulders and _twisting_ , setting the much larger man off-balance. Wally raised his eyebrows at Robin. The hero smirked back at him, "You can't tell me that it's not going horribly!" He grunts a little bit as Batman sinks his rather pointy looking elbow into Robin's side, setting the two spinning off to the side.

Wally takes a moment to dodge Wonder Woman's punch, almost bending over backwards to avoid it. He shouts back, "I can tell you that easily. It's the unholy glee that I can't get behind."

Robin took a hit to the shoulder, rolling with it and using the momentum to lash out a powerful kick at Batman's shin. The hero stumbled, but didn't fall, throwing a batarang towards where Robin had been a second before. From up in the rafters, Robin cackles again, "That's because you are literally incapable of letting your hair down and having fun."

"Getting the living daylights beaten out of me is _not_ fun," Wally answered mildly, just avoiding using Wonder Woman's lasso as a noose. That wouldn't have been pretty.

There was a shrug in Robin's voice as he swung down from the rafters, having to drop and roll sooner than planned when Lorraine and Hawkwoman fly past him, almost knocking him out of the air, "Well, you've never done it with me before."

Wally snorted, dropping to his knees and almost rolling into Wonder Woman's feet as he avoided Superman's laser vision, "Yeah, I have actually."

"But you haven't let your hair down!" Robin threw back in a singsong tone. Batman growled at the tone and Robin brightened. What a weirdo.

Still, it was strangely entertaining to volley words back and forth with someone while he fought. Sure, Wally would occasionally throw out words while he fought with the Circus, but doing it with Robin was, well, _fun_. Not that he would ever admit it to the sidekick.

Robin cackled as he flew past Wally, hitting Wonder Woman with one of his batarangs before Batman caught up with him, swinging on his own grappling hook. Honestly, Batman and Robin were weird to Wally. They just… they were weird. He didn't entirely know how to explain how strange they were. It was probably because they were from Gotham. That place sent anyone psycho.

Wally shook his head and focused on his own fight with Wonder Woman. She was a lot faster than he had been aware she was. She'd certainly held back in the training sessions she'd led back when things were a bit calmer. Maybe she held back so she didn't hurt them. Maybe she held back because she didn't want to show the metahumans her full abilities. Wally wasn't sure he really wanted to know why she felt the need to hold back. It probably wouldn't reflect well on him.

He certainly wasn't stronger than her and he certainly wasn't as well trained, but he could use those things to his advantage. Maybe he'd underestimate him. As much as she'd held back on her speed when fighting with him, he'd held back on his speed as well. And as fast as she might be, he was _faster_.

Taking a moment, Wally tapped into the speed force, quickening it in his veins, watching as time slowed around him as a result. When he stopped pressing the speed force in him, he took a moment to look around him. The room was a tableau of horror.

They weren't winning.

Red Tornado was still a pile of sparking, metal limbs towards the side of the room (although one of his limbs was, horrifyingly enough, on the opposite side of the room). Dinah and Roy were struggling against pure metal bonds that they had no hope of getting out of without Superboy's help. Superboy was desperately dodging Superman's blows, only occasionally able to even attempt to land a blow on the Kyrptonian. Miss Martian and Martian Manhunter were locked in a battle of minds far, far above the battlefield, but while Martian Manhunter was calm and centred, Miss Martian was sweating, expression twisted into one of pain. Wally wasn't sure she had the mental fortitude to face him, especially after the emotional events of the past several weeks and her recent battle with Queen Bee.

Lorraine and Hawkwoman were locked in a mid-air grapple, expressions unbelievably fierce, snarls painting their countenances in menacing shadows against Lorraine's firelight. The two of them seemed evenly matched at least. Wally was sure that Lorraine would be able to defeat Hawkwoman as long as she got far enough away from her to use her flames. Wally couldn't see Robin being able to defeat Batman. As much as Robin was much younger and sprier, Batman was a lot more experienced. Batman was probably the single most impressive superhero out there. He was unbelievably skilled and good in fights for all that he didn't actually have any superpowers. Robin was still in trainee mode compared to his mentor. He couldn't really compete against that.

Harold was the one that Wally was the most concerned about. He was fighting against a Green Lantern (not Hal) and he was losing, badly. For all that Hal had become closer to the Circus, they'd never sparred against him before. The Circus had no clue how to fight a Green Lantern and that was painfully obvious in how poorly Harold was faring against the Green Lantern still under mind control.

Wally turned back to his own opponent. Wonder Woman was frozen with her lasso swinging over her head, golden light pouring out of the strange weapon and shining down over her supernatural beauty. The beauty was only marred by the ugly snarl over her face and the blank nothingness in her eyes.

Thinking carefully, Wally rushed to grab the lasso out of the air. Embarrassingly enough, he'd needed to jump in the air a time or three to be able to actually grab the lasso. Thank goodness that no one else in there was fast enough to see what he was doing. He gripped the lasso and moved back to Wonder Woman, carefully throwing it around and around her. He managed to get her wrapped up in it and started to tie the knot off when he felt a prickle at the back of his neck.

It was the feeling of something watching you, but that wasn't possible. He was going too fast, _way_ too fast for anyone to be watching him. Still, Wally finished the knot as quickly as possibly before turning around. What he saw was probably one of the most terrifying moments in his life.

Superman was _staring at him_. This was especially horrifying because Superman had been staring in completely the opposite direction before all of this. So, it was _wrong_ that he was looking at Wally now. He shouldn't be able to move that fast. No one should be able to move that fast.

And yet… there was Superman. Wally barely got the chance to knock Wonder Woman over and plant the cure-tech on her neck (it would take a couple seconds of real time for the cure-tech to activate, so she needed to be secure when he put it on) before Superman was _running_ at him.

Breath catching in his throat, Wally felt a little of his control over his speed slip. The world _jerked_ into normal speed for a split second before he slowed it all down again and _ran_. Superman was a whole lot faster than anyone ever gave him credit for.

Wally felt his heart practically stop as Superman started gaining on him. Unable to resist, Wally turned his head slightly to check where Superman was. That was his downfall. His body had instinctually slowed as he turned so, if he fell, it would be less hazardous. That miniscule slowing, however, had allowed Superman to catch up to him.

Wally wasn't able to do more than widen his eyes before Superman _punched_ him. Wally managed to twist a little bit so Superman hit his side instead of straight on hitting his stomach, but it still didn't feel the greatest.

At some point while he flew through the air from the force of Superman's punch, Wally control over time completely slipped.

Someone screamed out his codename as he _crunched_ against the wall, breathing heavily as he tried to contain his pain. That _hurt_. Superman stared at him dispassionately for a moment before returning to fight Superman.

Coughing (and feeling something wet and concerningly blood-like drip over his lip), Wally at least felt thankful that he'd managed to take Wonder Woman out. He swallowed through his pain and glanced around him. Hal was on one side of him and Dinah and Roy were on the other. He couldn't do a thing to help them, but he could try to help Hal.

Grunting with the pain of his movements, Wally reached out a shaking hand to nudge Hal. He nudged him again a moment later, some of his strength starting to return. His post-inhibitor collar trash healing was starting to fade, allowing his usual healing ability to shine through. One more time, Wally nudged Hal with increasing force, practically slapping the poor man.

He would have felt back if it hadn't woken Hal up. Wally resisted the urge to whoop in delight, instead hissing to get Hal's attention, "Hey! Your cousin needs you, man. So do the rest of us. Get in there and take some people down."

Hal blinked dizzily at him before turning his confused stare at the incoming battle. He shook his head a few times before apparently setting sight on where the other Green Lantern was taking Harold down.

Hal was standing in an instant, zooming off towards the fight without another word to Wally (which was just fine for the speedster; he had no problem sitting there and quietly letting his injuries heal). He barrelled into the other Green Lantern, shouting, "Touch him again and I'll kill you, John! Mind control or no mind control!" Wally winced; was John that man's secret identity? Sure, John didn't have a mask on, but quite honestly a lot of the heroes didn't have masks on and did just fine in protecting their identities. It was kind of weird. Heroes were weird in general. Wally might have a concussion.

It was immediately clear which Green Lantern was the stronger one as Hal immediately started winning the battle. The battle was decided as soon as Harold joined in, adding his strength to Hal's. The two of them easily took care of John, planting the cure-tech on his unconscious form.

They flew back to Wally quickly, Hal immediately asking, "What do you want me to do?"

Harold quickly followed that up with, "Are you alright?"

Wally scowled, "Do I look alright? I was just slapped at superspeed across the room by Superman. I am no alright. I'm going to sit here and heal for a little bit. I need you two to make sure that Wonder Woman is actually freed from the mind control and I need you guys to get Black Canary and Red Arrow ready to fight. If possible, Maser, try to get Red Tornado operational again. Once you're done with those things, then join in with whoever looks like they need the most help." The two nodded at him before heading off in opposite directions. Harold checked Wonder Woman, giving Hal some sort of signal before apparently prioritizing Red Tornado.

Hal used his green power ring to free Dinah and Roy before freeing Wonder Woman. This was it. This was the tide of the battle turning!

Now that Wally had a moment to really breathe, he looked over the battlefield again. This time, his eyes snagged on something important he'd missed when he'd paused time. Eyes widening, he saw Savage looming over the room, Klarion floating next to him, the two of them about ready to disappear into some sort of portal.

Wally couldn't let that happen.

So, ignoring the aching pain of skin knitting back together and bruised bones working themselves towards healed (and, though he'd never admit it lest he worry someone, some bones were fusing themselves back together after some unfortunate breaks when he hit the wall), Wally stood up.

He once again cursed the fact that he couldn't fly. They were floating way up towards the ceiling and all the fliers were busy at the moment. There wasn't enough room to build up the speed necessary to be able to run up walls in order to reach them that way.

Come on! There had to be _something_ he could use! Desperation pushing him, Wally started to circle around the room, building up as much speed as he could. He hated that he still distracted some of the Team members, that he could be a cause of injury in their distraction, but he couldn't help it. Narrowing his eyes, Wally created a trajectory.

Once he'd built up enough speed, Wally launched himself up at Batman. He landed feet first on the man's bent over head, pushing himself off of that and using Hawkwoman as his next steppingstone. She was just a little further up than Batman. The next one he used was Martian Manhunter. By that point, he was nearly at the ceiling. Almost grinning, Wally pushed off of Martian Manhunter, launching himself neatly at the two escaping villains (he was a little sad that he didn't get a chance to watch the chaos happening beneath him as the heroes reacted to being literally stepped on). He wasn't able to get Savage who slipped through the portal _just_ before Wally was able to get him, but he did manage to slam into Klarion, knocking the witch boy right out of the air, sending the two of them tumbling _quite_ a distance to the ground.

Just before they hit the ground, a glowing green baseball mitt caught the two. Wally was gently rolled off the mitt right before it transformed into a green prison, holding Klarion there as John the Green Lantern glared at the witch, holding a hand to his head and still stumbling somewhat.

Wally gasped a quiet, "Thank you," at him, flopping back on the ground once he realized that pretty much all of the battles were taken care of.

Since Batman had been distracted from Wally stepping on his face, Robin had been able to get the drop on the older man, quickly taking him out. He'd then been free to apparently take Kryptonite from his utility belt to take down Superman (and Superboy, yikes). Wonder Woman had lasso-ed Hawkwoman, allowing Lorraine to tag her with the cure-tech. Martian Manhunter's concentration in his mental fight with Miss Martian was disrupted by Wally's foot in his face, so he was easily dispatched as well.

Even as Wally sat there healing, the other groups trailed into the room, most of them hale and hearty. Hawkman's wings were unfortunately damaged and Caitlyn's leg was broken, but otherwise they were relatively alright.

Wally let out a wheezing sigh of relief. That was it, then. Well, pretty much. Actually, it really wasn't it at all. There were still plenty of League members out there doing whatever who were still infected with Starro-tech. Savage had escaped. Plus, they still had to check in on the other teams in the Watchtower and on Earth. There was a lot that needed to be done.

But, for the moment, everything was alright.

At least, it would have been if Jinx hadn't chosen that moment to appear out of one of the connecting hallways, Kelvin and Barry bound behind her, Garfield held in Teekl's grasp. Klarion started a sort of raspy laughter from his emerald cage.

Jinx stared at them dispassionately, "Release Klarion or watch your friends die."

Wally struggled to his feet even as Cameron pleaded, "Jinx, please let them go. Please fight this. We believe in you. We _know_ you can be freed from this. _Please_."

Jinx was unmoved, "Release Klarion or watch your friends die." Teekl's jaw clamped slowly down, small dimples appearing in Garfield's flesh before the teeth broke through the skin, rivulets of blood starting to flow out onto the ground.

Desperately, Wally moved forward. The moment Jinx's eyes fell on him, Teekl stopped moving. Wally stumbled a little bit before Robin, who was closest, ducked under his arm, holding him up. Wally stared at Jinx, willing her to remember, to see him and think of everything that had happened in that _cell_ in the Light's base.

Something reminiscent of remembrance flickered in Jinx's eyes before it was gone, washed away by the Starro-tech. Swallowing, Wally started his own appeal, "I have a counter-offer. Klarion and Teekl get to leave, but our friends and you, Jinx, have to stay with us."

"No!" Klarion shrieked, not even giving Jinx a moment to answer. Once he took control of the situation, any facsimile of emotion on Jinx's face melted into a careful blankness.

Wally grimaced as he looked at the situation. He wasn't fast enough to fix the situation. If he put the cure-tech on Jinx, Teekl would have killed Garfield before he could free him. If he got Garfield away from Teekl, Jinx would have killed Kelvin or Barry. Superman was too weak from the Kryptonite to help and, as fast they were, Wonder Woman and Shazam still weren't fast enough to get there in time.

Jaw clenching, Wally tried to stall, "You're not getting out of here with any of us – and that includes Jinx. What deal would you propose?"

Klarion eyed him with a carrion's fascination and Wally tried to contain his horror. With a demented child's smile, Klarion says, "What if I asked for the little Robin tucked under your arm? What if I asked for the ice-pick you're so fond of? Or the fishboy? Or the archers? What if I asked for the demon or the Martian or the clone? Would you give one of them to me to save the rest?"

"No," Wally answered instantly, wondering a little desperately where all the adults were. He was certainly a strong individual and didn't need an adult looking after him, but sometimes, just sometimes, it was nice to have an adult help him out. This would be one of those times. And it would, of course, be a time where there would be no adult.

Klarion's face grew, if possible, more demented, "Oh really? So you don't actually care if I do this?"

With a flick of her wrist, Jinx tugged Barry closer, grabbing a knife from the sleeve of her dress and casually planting it in his leg, waking the older speedster up with a groan of pain. Cisco and Patrick make identical noises of horror. Wally's fists clench, breath threatening to speed up and allow panic to overtake him.

It was so reminiscent of what they'd made her do to him that it filled him with rage, lighting up his senses with a fury purer than he'd experienced in a long time. Cameron, noticing the signs, quickly darted in and tugged Robin to safety. Wally barely noticed.

The anger solidified into lightning racing through his veins. It lingered in his blood, swirling and whirling in there until Wally was sure that lightning had _replaced_ his blood, that there was nothing left in his body except this lightning, this Speed Force given lightning that gifted him with such incredible speed. He was the lightning. He was speed.

He was angry.

Wally didn't even properly remember moving. All he knew was that one second, he was standing there, rage trembling through his veins, twining with the lightning there, and the next second he was standing by Klarion, smashing his fist into his face before _throwing_ his body to smash into a wall half a football field away.

The next instant, he was behind Jinx, planting the cure-tech on her. The next instant he was pulling the knife out of his uncle's thigh, binding the wound. The next instant, he was pulling Kelvin and Barry _through_ Jinx's powers, setting them gently on their feet. The next instant, he was ripping Teekl's mouth open, pulling Garfield out and setting him next to the others. The next instant, Teekl had joined his master in a heap on the other side of the monitor room.

And then… and then… the rage started to leave his body, reminding Wally that he was not, in fact, speed and that there were limits to what a mortal body could do. He stumbled, would have fallen if Cameron's arms hadn't caught him. He blinked, mind trying to slow back down to normal speeds. He'd never gone that fast before. He hadn't known he _could_ go that fast before.

Cameron caught him more fully as his legs gave out from under him. It took a moment, but he was finally steady enough to be put on his feet, which Cameron did gently. The rest of the three (four if you include the Justice League) were staring at him, expressions too muddled for him to be able to tell if they were impressed, horrified, or none of the above. Most importantly, though, there was Jinx, standing just a few feet away from him, clear-eyed and bright, a laugh on her lips and a smile in her eyes.

Then, suddenly, startling them all, a holo-screen pops up in the middle of the room. It showed in bright letters: _January 1_ _st_ _, 00:00_ before exclaiming, "Happy New Years!"

Someone burst into hysterical laughter.

Wally didn't really notice. Instead, he walked over to Jinx, eyes locked on her (mercifully) clear ones. He put one hand up to her cheek, pressing their foreheads together softly. He shook his head against her forehead and said, "I should have done this a long time ago." And then he kissed her. It was in front of everyone and they were covered in blood (mostly his, to his chagrin) and it wasn't quite as graceful as Wally would have wanted his first kiss to be, but it was theirs.

When they parted for breath, Jinx murmured against his lips, "Yeah, you probably should have."

Vaguely, Wally was aware of others following the tradition around them. Superboy and Miss Martian start passionately kissing. Rocket pecked Kaldur on the cheek which would have made Wally's day if Jinx hadn't already done that. Barry blows an air kiss to Iris and Caitlyn and Ronnie kiss (which was kind of weird because Stein was still in there). Cameron turns around and pulls Artemis into a passionate kiss that Wally honestly hadn't been expecting. Dinah follows the same pattern with Oliver.

Wally huffs a laugh into the air between them, "Look what we've done."

Jinx wasn't able to respond before Red Tornado announced, "I am unable to understand human customs."

The laughter that fills the monitor room might have been tinged with a little bit of hysteria, but it was the most genuine laughter the group had heard for a long, long time.

 **Author's Note: THIS IS NOT THE END. There is still going to be a bit because, keep in mind, Savage is still missing. Just saying. So, there will be more. Not sure how much. We're definitely in the endgame now :P Thanks for reading!**


	44. Chapter 44

**Author's Note: Here I am! Gonna be really honest and say I have no clue where this is going, so we'll see? I have an idea of what I want for the epilogue or whatever, but zero clues how to get there. So, this is going to be as much of a surprise to me as it is to you. Also! Ugh, I reread my last chapter and I apparently had such a difficult time staying in the correct tense. That physically pained me to read, I'm so sorry. Read, review, and enjoy!**

WWWWWW

Wally allowed himself to be guided gently into one of the conference room chairs. They were… surprisingly cushy. Wally wasn't sure why he expected the Justice League to skimp on the comfortableness of their main meeting chairs, but he had. He was thankfully proven wrong.

Jinx and Cameron finally got him settled, making sure that his broken leg was slightly extended. Wally resisted the urge to shrug them both off and do it himself. He didn't need their help and it was kind of suffocating, but he could tell that they both needed this. So, he bore it with only a sigh (and, maybe, a couple of eye rolls).

They both settled on either side of him, sinking into the chairs with their own grateful sighs. Jinx leaned slightly in towards him but didn't move to do anything else which Wally was thankful for. They were both a little messed up, so a relationship between them was going to be interesting. The two of them were going to have to have a long conversation about boundaries and expectations once this was all over. Wally was not looking forward to that.

Cameron jostled Wally's shoulder, causing Wally to glare at him. Cameron just raised an eyebrow in response, "Look." He jerked his head towards the door where Miss Martian, Superboy, and Superman were coming in. Superman had a companionable hand on Superboy's shoulder and all three of them were smiling. Cameron grinned a little bit, "Looks like Superman finally stopped being a douche."

"Is that possible?" Wally muttered back. He only realized he'd forgotten Superman's super hearing when Superman turned a dry, mildly judgemental expression on the two of them. Wally raised an eyebrow back and Cameron threw him a bright grin. Then, throwing both of them for a loop, Superman gave them a soft smile in response. Wally whispered, "Did he just…"

Nodding appreciatively, Cameron said, "Yep. He did. He really has gotten less douchey."

"Nothing like a dose of mind control to put your priorities in perspective and knock the douche right out of you," Wally commented. He could hear Superman sigh from all the way across the room. Next to him, Cameron snickered.

Carefully, other superheroes, metas, and others gathered around the conference table, settling into chairs with grateful groans and blissful sighs. For once, the teams didn't segregate into their own parts of the table, instead moving into whichever chair is closest, regardless of whether it was a Team member, a Justice League member, an Alliance member, or a Circus member sitting nearby. Of course, there were still clumps of friends. Harold and Hal were practically inseparable, John sitting stiff-backed next to Hal. Oliver was on Harold's other side, Dinah pressed up against him. Iris and Barry were sharing a seat, Iris perched on Barry's uninjured leg. Caitlyn was sprawled in Ronnie's lap, leg gratefully stretched over onto Shazam's lap. Artemis hesitantly moved to sit next to Cameron and was quickly joined by Miss Martian, Superboy, and Superman. Batman hovered as unobtrusively as he could near Robin who was sitting with Garfield, Roy, and Kaldur. Zatanna brushed a gentle, conciliatory hand over Jinx's shoulder as Rocket and Icon wheeled her over to the side. The rest of the groups scattered all between. It was… humbling.

Superman started off the meeting, eyes still bright from whatever weird encounter he'd had with Superboy, "First of all, I would like to take the time to thank _every_ group who aided in this fight and in the fights that took place down on Earth. We couldn't have done this without you, and we are beyond grateful." He waited for everyone to send him tired nods of acknowledgement before he continued, some of the brightness fading out of his eyes with the news, "However, there are still issues we have to face. The Justice League has no right to ask this, but we're going to anyways and I'm sorry for that. You all have given us far more than you needed to and with very little recognition or support from us in the past, but we are going to ask for your help one more time. Will the Alliance and the Circus help us in solving these final problems?"

Wally's eyes lifted to Superman's, surprised. Did they… did they really think that the Circus _wasn't_ going to keep helping them? The alliance was made to defeat the Light and, as far as Wally could tell, they weren't defeated yet. Then again, that initial alliance had dissolved… Still, it wasn't like they were going to just leave. Were they?

Carefully, Wally looked to each member of his group. They all gave him an even gaze that told him they were leaving the decisions up to him. Turning to Cameron, Wally flicked a few symbols – _what do you think?_ – _I want to help_ – _Safe?_

Narrowing his eyes, Cameron carefully signed back – _not safe – scared – we're going to get hurt – I want to help anyway_.

Cameron had a point. This was almost certainly not going to go smoothly. And right now? The Circus was on the Justice League's good side. It was the perfect time to blend back into the shadows. There was no saying what the Justice League would feel about them by the time they fully take out the Light. They might not be so willing to let the Circus fade away again. Besides, there was a new Holo City to build. More people to free. A lot of messes to clean up. The Justice League had been kind enough to let the Circus take in all the metas freed from the Light's grasp. Some were being filtered slowly (illegally) back into society by the Alliance, but it would be a while before much progress was made on that front either.

But… Wally's team liked the Team. They were friends with them (more tentatively now after the recent fiascos) and they had worked well together. And Wally still had some background goal of making life better for all metas everywhere.

They didn't have time to continue this alliance, but… the benefits were incredible. Potentially. It was a risk. Then again, if Wally hadn't taken that risk in the camps, none of his team would be free right now. None of those kids he'd saved would likely be free either.

Wally sighed, rolling his head on his neck, "The Circus will help." He was glad to see his teammates relax into their seats, obviously pleased with his choice. They would have followed whatever decisions he'd made, but they preferred this one. Good to know.

Following his declaration, Barry smiled softly at Wally before announcing, "The Alliance will help as much as it can. But, please keep a few things in mind. The Alliance is, primarily, an information gathering and releasing organization. We're not fighters despite what's just happened. Also, in regards to both the Alliance and the Circus, we're both very busy right now. There are freed metas all over the place and both of our organizations are trying to process them while pulling ourselves together."

Wally added his own point in, "Plus, the Circus is trying to coordinate the relocation of Holo City. Which isn't the easiest. And we're working with the survivors of the Hackers, the African village, and Gorilla City to get their lives back on track." He grimaced as he thought of it.

Superman and Batman shared a look before Superman said, "I know that you are both highly suspicious of outsiders and I respect that, but if either of you needs any help, the Justice League is more than willing to help."

Barry grimaced a little bit from his side of the table, "We'll think about it." Wally nodded to show that his answer was the same. Superman looked a little disheartened but didn't disagree, just nodding in respect of their decision.

Clearing his throat, Superman continued on with his original topic, "We have several things to discuss, then, but I believe Red Arrow wanted to say something first."

Roy stood up, pulling the attention of the room to him. He still couldn't quite look at the Justice League members (who would be able to? They'd just basically hunted him down with the aim to kill. Mind controlled or not, that's not an easy thing to forget), but he gazed just a little bit above their heads as he said, "I _know_ that I didn't do any of the things I did on purpose. I know that I never would have done them had I been in control. Still, I feel like I should apologize to you, to _all_ of you. I especially want to apologize to Artemis, Miss Martian, and Superboy for the doubt I cast on your actions and the mistrust I planted about all of you. I want to apologize to Green Arrow because I'm not sure how much of our fights were caused by the… the implanted need to join the Justice League. I want to apologize to Robin and Aqualad because you guys stood by me when it mattered even when I wasn't myself. And I'd like to thank the Circus for catching on to what I was before the rest did. If you hadn't realized what I was, there was a good chance that your plan would have been revealed to the Light before you could enact it.

"For those of you who didn't get the full story, I am a clone of the _real_ Red Arrow – or, I guess, Speedy – manufactured by the Light with the sole purpose of getting into the League to infect them with the Starro-tech. Throughout the course of the time that the Team was investigating the Light, the Light would occasionally check in and 'activate' me by saying a certain phrase – which has since been removed. During those time periods, I would give information about the Team and the Justice League to the Light. Now, though, all the programming is gone. I'm clear. I'm just… just a regular clone of Speedy. I will find him, though. I will find the original if it's the last thing I do." When Roy was finished, his expression was fierce and determined.

Batman said seriously, "Guardian had tried to search Cadmus for the body, but the Light raided Cadmus, subdued Guardian and the others working there, and stole the original Speedy away. They have, from what we have been able to find so far, also taken several other projects. We are trying to figure out what, exactly, they've taken."

Cisco shook his head and muttered, "Always one step behind."

"Who is even left in the Light?" Wonder Woman sighed, cradling an icepack against her forehead.

John groaned, "Savage was able to escape, but all of their known bases were destroyed. There should be no available options."

Aquaman shook his head, "Savage himself should have safe houses and goons available to do his bidding. Their aid is probably what rendered the attack on Cadmus possible."

Lorraine clenched her fists, "Why didn't we think about that?"

Aquaman smiled softly at her, "It is no slight on you that you did not think of that. You have incredible skills and great teamwork, but the truth is that you have not been in operation for that long of a time. This is a learning experience."

Lorraine pouted, "Feels like a failure." Aquaman kept up his gentle smile.

Batman cut in before the exchange could go any longer, "Furthermore, there is another problem." Groans from around the room cut him off.

Robin picked up as soon as the groans quieted down, "Before they were summoned back to the Watchtower to defeat us, there were six League members – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, and Hawkwoman – who were gone for sixteen hours. We can't figure out where they went."

"There's no word on where they went? No sightings anywhere?" Kelvin asked, impressed.

Dinah frowned, "They were in their suits when they were summoned to take us down. That probably means that wherever they were, they were in their suits."

"That makes it even more unlikely that they weren't seen wherever they went," Artemis mused.

"Well, what was Savage and the rest of the Light planning to do with the League? What was the point of mind controlling them?" Patrick asked, arms stretching all the way behind him, pressing flat against his back, much to the horror of Hawkman, who was sitting next to him.

Hesitantly, Jinx answered, "The Light wanted the heroes out of the way so the rest of the world would be able to evolve."

"Do we know why the Light was so set on evolving humans? Like, why are they so hard-pressed to make sure that humans become metas? Why do they only want the strong metas to survive?" Cameron asked.

"How do you know they only want the strong ones to survive?" Batman asked sharply.

Wally winced, "When I was being held by the Light, I managed to get my hands on some files. They showed how the Light manufactured anti-metahuman campaigns and propaganda way back when people started hating metas. They were the ones who got the world to start hating us and they're the ones who created the camps." His voice had gone flat with fury by the end, no matter how hard he tried to remain impartial.

Wonder Woman looked at him with wide eyes, "But… why would they do such a thing? If they want the world to become metahumans, then why would they create the camps."

"Like we said," Wally shrugged, "To make sure only the strong survive. You've gotta be strong to survive the camps and, honestly, the US is about in the middle when it comes to cruelty towards metahumans. Queen Bee horribly tortured, brainwashed, and mentally controlled her meta army. Chile kills metas on sight. Same with a couple of other South American countries. Metas who survive through the anti-meta mentality have got to be either the strong ones or the ones smart enough to make friends with the strong ones."

"So, what I'm hearing out of all of this is that Savage is trying to make the population of Earth stronger through some whacked sort of survival of the fittest, rapid-fire evolution kind of thing," Patrick commented slowly.

Hal's nose wrinkled, "Does he know something we don't know?"

"Does it matter? This is _not_ the way to make the Earth stronger regardless of what Savage knows," Kelvin rumbled. Hal nodded guiltily.

"Well, wait," Robin started, "Maybe it still does matter."

Billy nodded along enthusiastically, "That's true. If we know _why_ Savage is doing what he's doing, it'll make it a lot easier to guess his next movements. His plans."

"And," Robin added carefully, voice tense enough that Wally tensed instinctively, "it will make it easier to convince the masses that they've been misled about metahumans."

The room went completely silent.

Cisco let out a short laugh of disbelief, "I'm sorry, are you saying that you want to try to change public opinions about metas?"

Robin shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny of four teams of heroes, "So what if I am?" He raised his chin defiantly.

Next to him, Kaldur and Roy rose. Roy spoke first, "People are wrong about metas. We know that now."

Kaldur finished for him, "We will not allow metahumans to continue to be subjugated now that we understand the situation and we learned of the errors of our ways."

On the other side of the room, Hal and Oliver stood up at the same time. They both glanced to each other before Oliver glanced at Roy and Hal glanced at Harold. They must have seen something in that glance because they gave themselves bracing glances before Hal said, "Even if I didn't know that what we're doing to metas is bad, I'm not going to let _anyone_ treat my cousin like that ever again." He put a careful, loving hand on Harold's shoulder. Some of the heroes and Alliance members around the room lit up in surprise, but no one seemed too offended.

Oliver took a deep breath. For a second, it looked like he wasn't going to say anything, but then Dinah grabbed his hand gently. He seemed to gain strength from that touch because he finally started speaking, "As my civilian identity, I have been supporting the Circus financially almost since it's founding. Myself and a group of others have come together and have been working on not only founding the Circus but also trying to pave the way for them as much as we can. I am definitely ready to take the next step." Dinah squeezed his hand, a small smile on her face.

Artemis stood up next, surprising most people in the room, "You all know how against metas I was basically from day one. But the Circus – and now the Alliance – has shown me how wrong I was, how prejudiced. I fell victim to the Light's schemes, and I'm done letting the Light control everything. I won't let them lie to me anymore. I know the truth now." Cameron nudged Wally under the table and winked. Wally rolled his eyes one autopilot. This… this was more than he could have ever asked for.

And it just kept going.

It was _Batman_ who stood up next, "I have not had close interaction with the Circus or the Alliance, but I have done deep research and I have interviewed Supersonic. I never looked into the camps because, based on what we were told, they made sense. I was busy. Those were excuses. Not looking further into the camps was one of the biggest mistakes in my life. I will fix it if I can." Wally was pretty sure that was most he'd heard Batman say in one go and he'd been interviewed by the man.

Wonder Woman added her piece, "My time guarding Supersonic has taught me more about metahumans than I could have ever learned in the ignorant society we live in. I will not allow subjugation and… and _torture_ of an entire people any longer."

Wally's heart was pounding in his throat as various other Team members added their opinions in. Even _Red Tornado_ stood up in support of them. This was more than he could have ever dreamed of. This could… this could mean the end of metahumans being hunted. Holo City could be free. His team could be free. Those people he'd had to leave behind in the camps could be free. _Wally_ could be _free_. He could feel his eyes watering under his goggles, his breath tight (in the best possible way). Blinding scrabbling, he grabbed Jinx's hand in one of his, the other catching Cameron's hand.

Finally, Iris stood up, hand held to her mouth like she was about to cry too, "On behalf of the Alliance, we cannot thank you enough for these words, for the passion and determination behind them. We… this is what we dreamed of. This is what my husband and I _prayed_ for when we had to go on the run to avoid him being discovered. _This_ is what the Alliance was created for. This was always the dream goal. All we want is to be _people_." Her voice broke on the last word, and Barry stood up after her, pulling her into his arms, resting his chin on her shoulder. She rallied after a moment, "Your support is a _huge_ step in the right direction. And… the Alliance wants to thank you for that. We don't have much, and we have even less that we can give away, but for now? We give you our trust."

Wally's breath caught as each member of the Alliance took off their masks. One by one, they introduced themselves, finishing with Iris and Barry. Then, for a long moment (that Wally eventually realized was being stretched out in time so it was just the two of them, just Barry and Wally in this world), Barry just watched Wally with a small smile. He was giving Wally a choice, letting him know that he would support him either way. This was a pivotal moment in Wally's life.

Did he trust them or not? Did he extend his armour a little further, stretch it to include more people? Or did he tuck it tighter around his chosen few? He looked around at the rest of the group. The rest of them had no problem extending their armour to fit in more and more people. Wally was _capable_ of it. But… humans had caused so many problems for Wally in the past.

In the end, though, there was only one decision he could make. He took a deep breath… and nodded.

Barry sent him a blinding smile as time sped back up. Even as Barry was speaking, Wally was taking his goggles and cowl off, "And… this is my nephew, Wally West."

There was silence for a long, _long_ second. And then Kaldur stood up into the empty silence. He walked around the tables until he was standing right behind Wally. Wally turned in his seat, confused.

Kaldur gave him a soft smile before pulling Wally out of his chair. Wally didn't get a chance to do more than make a questioning noise before Kaldur dragged Wally into a hug. Wally froze for a moment before relaxing.

Maybe… maybe sometimes it was okay to trust.

 **Author's Note: I guess this chapter ended up being a sort of fluffy interlude to kind of introduce the next arc of the story? I guess? Let me know what you thought! Thanks for reading! (Also, going to be real with you guys and say that there were a lot of moments where I accidentally typed 'muggles' instead of 'metas' and had to go back and change it. I don't even know what's happening).**


	45. Chapter 45

**Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! This 'second arc' or whatever isn't going to be super long or whatever, just, you know, however long the story decides it wants to be. I don't even know what's happening anymore :P Read, review, and enjoy!**

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Kaldur felt his heart warm when he saw Wally talking seriously with Oliver. In the end, almost everyone had ended up giving out their identities. Only Bruce and Dick had held out, but they were known for their secrecy and everyone had to decency to let it go.

There had been a week long period where the Alliance and the Circus gathered their people, bringing them back to bases or, in the Circus's case, Holo City (Kaldur had listened to Wally complain about how completely exhausted he was after running hundreds of people back to the new city in order to expedite the process). The Justice League and Team had dealt with the lawful logistics of running unannounced raids on tens of locations across the world. They wouldn't name their associates which made the people suspicious, but no one had really called them on it yet.

In the past few months, the public had become significantly more opinionated on the topic of metahumans, but now? The public opinion was slowly but surely swinging in the metahumans direction. Even more impressively, the governmental and big business opinions were slowly swinging in the same direction. Kaldur was highly impressed with the amount of sway the Alliance held to be able to start making these moves. The Circus held a lot of sway, too, but in different circles.

The metahuman and criminal underground were both huge fans of the Circus, apparently, and were more than willing to start work on getting the people of the world to change their opinion on metas.

It was incredible how quickly people began moving once Oliver brought his own connections into the picture. Oliver, the Circus, and the Alliance together had a world-wide network of people who had been working on changes to the treatment of metahumans for _years_. They had been individually gathering dirt, evidence, scientific opinions, endorsements, and plans that, together, created a cohesive movement. It was more than Kaldur had ever imagined.

And, the best part, was that the Justice League and the Team were completely on board with the idea. At that very first meeting, Clark had musingly presented the idea that a concerted effort to remove the anti-meta legislature could cause enough damage to Savage's plans that he'd be forced out of hiding. It wasn't entirely an excuse for helping the metas since they really did want to help, but it was an excuse to expedite the process.

Suddenly, Wally called the attention of the entire group, "Hey guys, Oliver and I need to talk with you guys."

Once everyone was gathered, Oliver started talking, "Okay, so we've been talking, and we decided that the best way to use the benefactors of the Circus is for us to have direct contact with them. With the way things are changing, we don't have to hide as strenuously, so it won't be so bad if we have more regular contact. Wally and I were thinking that we should split into a couple of groups and approach the benefactors. Some of them I know quite well, but some were hidden enough that not even I know about them."

Wally picked up from there, "I'm going to ask that I approach the ones that Oliver doesn't know about. Oliver knows the ones he meets with are willing to take this next step, but the two that he doesn't know about would not appreciate being surprised with random people."

Oliver side-eyed Wally curiously. Even Kaldur felt a hint of apprehension. Who were these people that they would be so suspicious? Was it because they were in the public eye? Or were they criminals? Who could they be?

Oliver continued after a second, "So, that leaves splitting us into two teams. There are six benefactors that I have direct contact with, but five of them are thick as thieves and you're almost guaranteed to find them together."

"Unfortunately," Wally said with a slight grimace aimed at Jinx, who blushed a bright magenta colour, eyes flitting to the floor in shame, "We don't know how much information was passed to the Light about the Circus. They knew about Holo City which was hidden from even our benefactors – except the two that Oliver doesn't know about. There's no knowing how much they found out from Grodd in Gorilla City or from the Hackers or from Jinx."

"Wait, you told everyone on the team who each of the benefactors were? Wouldn't it have been safer to spread the knowledge?" Dick asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Not really. There's not a lot of us and I trust all of them. If it makes you feel better, there's one name that only Cameron and I know. For the same reason you've mentioned. But, if we want to really hit hard with this, we're going to have to use all of our cards. _Anyway_ , my original point was that there is a good chance that Savage could have these people watched. That means that the teams who are going to talk to them could potentially be in danger. Just, we need to be careful," Wally warned.

"Well, that still leaves splitting up the teams. Who's going where? Where are we even going?" Dick threw in, clapping his hands together excitedly. Kaldur knew that Dick was excited to find out who the benefactors were. He'd been vaguely searching for them the entire time they'd known the Circus, although the search had definitely had to be moved to the backburner on several occasions.

Oliver smiled at him, eyes crinkling, "The five that hang out regularly are called the Green Team." Bruce made an interested noise. Oliver raised his eyebrows at Batman, "You've heard of them?"

Bruce answered easily, "The Green Team will pay out a fortune to anyone who gives them an adventure. The prerequisite for joining the team is the possession of _at least_ one million dollars, preferably in cash."

Artemis's jaw dropped, "Are you serious? How rich can you get?"

Oliver smirked, "The leader, one Commodore Murphy, is nicknamed 64 because he's supposed to inherit $64 trillion dollars when he turns 21." The rest of the jaws in the room dropped.

Wally sighed, "Luckily, the jumps and hoops we put them through to be a benefactor and stay hidden as a benefactor was enough to be considered an adventure for them. Honestly, if Miss Sunbeam wasn't so interested in metahumans, it probably would have been a lot harder, but she's got a soft spot in her heart for us, I guess."

John made a slightly strangled noise, "Miss Sunbeam? That wouldn't happen to be Cecilia Sunbeam, would it? The big-time actress?"

"That's the one," Wally said, eyebrow raised judgementally, "Is that really that much of a surprise?"

"What I don't understand," Patrick said, interrupting whatever John was going to say next, "Is why we need to talk to them directly?"

"How else are we supposed to contact them? We don't have any sort of electronic means of contacting them. That's too easily traced," Wally said.

Kaldur found himself blinking in shock. Was he serious? That would mean that the Circus and Oliver had been meeting these people entirely in person – without getting caught, without attracting attention, without giving any clue as to their actions.

"Is that really so surprising?" Oliver said, "Rich people do tend to hang out in the same circles. It's not that hard for me to run into Cecilia or LL or Commodore at some sort of charity event or something. It makes it hard for constant contact, but not too hard."

"That just makes me even more confused. If you have established in visible circles that you know and have had friendly conversation with these people, then would it be so strange for you to write them a letter or send them an email or even go to their house and give them a more secure communication device? I know we have to assume that a lot of your secret identities are compromised, but if we're also assuming that the identities of the benefactors are compromised, then where's the problem? We just send in Oliver with a group of us in the bioship or something as backup. There's no need for sending in people that they don't know who will likely just put them on their guard."

Wally and Oliver both blinked at Patrick. Patrick blinked back. Oliver opened and closed his mouth a couple times before he said, slowly, "I hadn't thought of that."

Patrick raised his eyebrows (up and up and up until Kaldur was concerned they were going to fly right off his face), "Yeah, I can tell."

Oliver wrinkled his nose at Patrick, "There's no need to be mean about it." From next to Kaldur, Roy huffed and rolled his eyes. Kaldur ducked his head to hide his grin.

"So, we are just going to send a ship of people with Green Arrow to be there as backup while he talks to the Green Team and whoever the other person is?" Conner clarified, eyebrows drawn together.

"That's what makes the most sense to me at least," Patrick said, shrugging a little bit.

Wally frowned, "That should work. I should take a team with me to go meet with one of the other benefactors. The last one I'll approach alone."

"I could take that one," Cameron offered. Wally smirked and sent him a few flickered hand signals. Cameron punched Wally's shoulder.

"Alright, so who goes where?" Kelvin asked.

"Obviously there are those that are still healing and can't come with. The Justice League should stay back and deal with the damages that the mind-controlled Justice League members did on Earth and the Alliance has a lot to do dealing with their own problems. Most of the rest of us could go with Oliver and a couple can go with me. I guess… I could take Robin, Jinx, and… Conner? It would be great to have someone who's fireproof," Wally mused. Kaldur felt himself growing alarmed. Fireproof?

Cameron scowled darkly at the floor, "And that's why I will _never_ go with you to talk to them ever again." Wally smirked at him. Robin gave Kaldur an alarmed look.

Kaldur cleared his throat slightly, "Are you… certain that it is safe to bring heroes to this meeting? Should they truly be concerned about… fire damage?"

Wally shook his head, "Nah, there was just a little misunderstanding at some point in the negotiations. And one of them is, ah, rather literally a pyromaniac. He's one of the two leaders and, well, probably the nicer of the two. But it's fine! The group is fine. They shouldn't hurt anyone."

"Shouldn't," Dick repeated doubtfully. Wally shrugged at him.

"Then I'll take Cameron, Billy, M'gann, Artemis, Harold, Kaldur, and Garfield with me," Oliver said easily.

"Works for me," Wally said, "That work for you, Kaldur?" Kaldur nodded.

With easy communication with these benefactors, they would truly be able to stop Savage.

 **Author's Note: I am so sorry for this flaming trash chapter. I had to make it so short because it was so completely bad and I didn't know how to undo it. I think I burned myself out with the other story I've been working on. I will try to be better next week, I am so, so very sorry you have to read this trash :P**


	46. Chapter 46

**Author's Note: Haha, once again, sorry about the last chapter no matter what all of you wonderful readers said about it :P This one should be better. I feel better with my writing after a week without writing. I just needed some time to recover from that other story I was working on, yikes. Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Skie cat – You probably won't find out who the pyromaniac is until next chapter. Probably. We'll see how this chapter goes :P Haha, what? Nah, Oliver didn't make friends with the Green Team because of anything but the money. Nothing to do with their name, I swear. Thank you so much for the sweet review!**

 **HI – You're totally fine! I'm just glad that you're back – I was starting to get a little worried, haha. You are the best! You've literally been supporting me for** _ **years**_ **. Thank you so much for all your support and a long, long time of wonderful reviews :)**

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Kaldur sank into his seat near the front of the bioship. Billy plopped down next to him, surprising him. Did he not want to sit next to Cameron? Or Garfield or Harold? Billy raised an eyebrow at Kaldur, "I like sitting in front."

Kaldur couldn't help but smile at him slightly, "That is alright. I was not going to say anything."

"You were giving me a judgemental look," Billy defended, squinting his eyes at Kaldur. He was currently in his Shazam form for which Kaldur was grateful. As intimidating as the Shazam form could be (and as confusing as it could be seeing the grown man and knowing that there was a child inside that body), Kaldur would prefer to deal with the intimidation over having a lightning bolt strike the ship in order to transform Billy into Shazam.

"I will attempt to refrain from giving you judgemental looks in the future," Kaldur soothed, only slightly mockingly. Billy narrowed his eyes at him regardless.

Cameron popped into the row of seats right behind them, pulling Artemis into the seat next to him. She rolled her eyes, but dutifully followed, turning to M'gann as soon as she was sitting down. Cameron beamed at her anyways. He then turned his attention onto Kaldur and Billy, "See Billy? That kind of sarcastic way of speaking is why I think him and Wally get along so well."

Billy grimaced at him, "I don't think it's ever going to stop feeling weird hearing you call him Wally in front of the heroes."

Cameron laughed, "Literally same. I freeze up – not literally, don't give me that look – every time I say it. I keep feeling like I've let something important slip, you know?"

"Amen!" Garfield called from across the room. M'gann, Artemis, and Zatanna had all cooed when he'd told them his name. He'd flushed a dark green-brown that just had them cooing even louder.

Harold rolled his eyes (some of the Alliance members had snorted when they'd realized that he and Hal had the same name), "It's really not that different. You all still call him 'fearless leader' most of the time, anyways."

As he climbed into the bioship, Oliver asked curiously, "How did that start to come about, by the way?"

"I don't really remember. I'm definitely the first one who said it. I know we watched something that had someone calling someone else that, but I don't remember what it was. I just started calling him that. He _hated_ it at first. He would always send the most terrifying glares whenever we called him that. That got the others to stop after only a time or two, but I could tell that he secretly liked it, so I kept going and eventually, the others picked up on the fact that he didn't really mind it. And that's how we started calling him our fearless leader," Cameron explained, hands tightening over the arms of his seat for a moment as M'gann started take-off.

"So, who all are we going to talk to? I know you said the Green Team, but who all are in the Green Team? And who's the other person we're checking out?" Artemis asked, interrupting the conversation.

Oliver and Cameron both opened their mouths to speak before snapping them shut with guilty looks at each other. For a long moment, they simply looked at each other, both seemingly urging the other to speak first.

Eventually, Billy rolled his eyes and started answering, "The Green Team: Commodore Murphy, electronics maker, J.P. Houston, oil tycoon, L. L. Houston, his sister, Cecilia Sunbeam, actress, Mohammed Qahtanii, a prince. We'll also be meeting with Loren Jupiter. He's got a couple of metahuman kids and he's also funding the underground metahuman group called the Teen Titans. Apparently, you guys had one of their people come and check out Wally while he was in the mind trap coma thing. We've worked with the Teen Titans a few times. They're great to work with. While we talk to Loren, we should probably try to talk to the Titans, see if we can get them to help out in any way. Any help we can get."

"You guys know everyone in the underground metahuman world, don't you?" M'gann asked curiously, eyes shining even as her hands stayed steady over the controls.

Cameron let out a short laugh, "We certainly know enough. There are a lot of really small groups, though, so we don't know a lot of them. We mainly just know the ones that are trying to actively make an impact instead of the ones that are just trying to band together and survive. And, obviously, there are ones we don't know about. The Alliance is a great example of that. If Wally hadn't run past Barry and attracted his attention, we probably never would have heard of the Alliance. Gotta love coincidences."

"Is that how they met again?" M'gann asked. Her expression lit up; she loved stories about people reuniting like that.

Cameron smiled at her, "Yeah. Wally had just had a meeting with the Justice League, and he wanted to blow off some steam on a run. He'd apparently blown past Barry. Barry chased after him. Neither of them had known that there were other speedsters out there. Then Barry introduced himself and Wally was like, oh my god, you're my uncle! Then Barry freaked out, too – according to Wally at least. He said that the two of them were in some random field halfway across the world and they were just sitting there freaking out. But then Barry brought Wally back to the Alliance main HQ to go meet up with Iris and meet the other people in the Alliance."

"That's so sweet!" M'gann squealed, "I am glad that they were able to have that reunion."

Kaldur watched as Cameron gave a soft, sweet little smile, "Yeah, me too. He certainly handled it better than Harold handled his reunion."

"Ha freaking ha," Harold called over to them, rolling his eyes, "I had a minor panic and that was it. I handled the rest much better, thank you very much." Cameron rolled his eyes back but seemed content to leave the conversation there.

Kaldur wondered what he meant by "handled the rest much better." Perhaps he meant the time of getting to know each other? Now that Kaldur thought about it, even when most people didn't know that Hal and Harold were family, they were still practically inseparable. Wally barely spoke to Barry and Iris. If he did, it was mostly about professional things. Their relationship seemed strained at the best of times. Kaldur wondered what could have caused that. Then again, Barry and Iris had said that they'd been leading the Alliance for nine years and Kaldur knew that Wally had been in the camps for six years. That was a lot of time apart and a lot of change happening while they were apart. It must be hard for them to reconnect after so long and so much.

Oliver spoke up, interrupting Kaldur's train of thought, "Here we are. Commodore's mansion." Artemis made a slightly strangled noise at the sight of the mansion but didn't say anything. Oliver went on, "Just drop me off near the gates. I'll head right in. I've got the codes to get in. Then you guys can hover over the building. I'll let you know if you need to come in."

"I guess we should have asked this sooner," Billy said, "But do they know that you're Green Arrow?"

"I never directly told them, but they have a lot of connections and a lot of brains between them, so they figured it out. So, yes, they know that I'm Green Arrow. I'm still a little bitter about it. I wouldn't be surprised if they knew the secret identities of all the heroes. They're smart about things like that," Oliver grumbled. Kaldur hid another smile by ducking his head. He sounded so disgruntled.

M'gann giggled and set the bioship down, opening a hatch for Oliver to discretely drive a car out of. The hope was that they were far enough away that no one watching would be too suspicious about the car. If there were enemies lying in wait, then there was a good chance that they would recognize Oliver as a threat pretty soon, but this gave the Team and Circus members a little bit of time to get into position before anyone tried to attack – if they ever did.

Carefully, they flew over to the mansion, hovering invisibly over it. They watched with bated breath as Oliver's car slowly crawled up the ridiculously long driveway.

When he was about halfway up the driveway, two people came out of the huge front doors. Artemis squinted at them, "No matter how many times I see Cecilia Sunbeam, I'm always shocked by how much of an actual mess she is."

"She is a famous teenaged actress. Rita always said that acting was a super tough job and that it was really easy to become an actual mess as you said. Rita said when she was younger, she had a hard time not going a little wild," Garfield said, eyes shining. Cameron was giving him a sad smile.

M'gann's eyes opened wide, "Rita? As in Rita Farr? Did you know her?"

"Yeah," Garfield grinned, "She was my adoptive mom for a little bit before she was killed. She was great, man. Definitely the best actress I've ever seen. I've watched every single one of her movies and shows." Kaldur started a little bit in his seat. Adoptive mom? Killed? How many sets of parents had Garfield gone through? Kaldur ached for him.

"Even though she had stopped acting for a while, it was still a sad day when she was found dead," Artemis said carefully, obviously able to tell that this was a tender subject for Garfield.

Garfield wrinkled his nose, "She _hated_ having to quit acting. She just could never quite get enough control over her abilities, not even with Steve, Cliff, and Larry all trying to help her."

"She was a metahuman?" Artemis asked, eyes wide. Garfield smiled grimly and nodded.

Kaldur shook his head. He wished that more people knew what he knew about metahumans. He knew that they were trying to make that a reality, but it was slow going. He wished that the people knew that anyone could be a metahuman, that everyone was affected by this. He wished people _understood_.

Kaldur spoke before anyone else could, "Who is the young man with her?"

"That's Prince Mohammed," Cameron answered easily.

Artemis squinted down at them again, "They're both just kids!"

Harold raised his eyebrows at her, "The Green Team is also affectionately called the 'Teen Trillionaires' by others. I'm not actually sure if they're all trillionaires yet or not. They're all definitely set up to get there, but I'm not sure if they're there yet. But yeah, they're all teenagers with a ridiculous amount of money."

"And they were good enough to stay so hidden that _Robin_ couldn't find them?" Artemis asked incredulously.

Harold shrugged, "I mean, they're super powerful." He didn't get a chance to say more than that. Oliver had reached the mansion.

Kaldur didn't know why, but he was surprised when Sunbeam pulled Oliver into a tight hug upon seeing him. Over the comms, they heard her squeal, " _Uncle Ollie! Do you have another adventure for us? All of us are here!_ "

Oliver's voice held a warm smile in it when he responded, " _Something like that. It has more to do with our favourite little group of miscreants._ "

Qahntii's voice spilt over the comms, accent barely there, " _Ah, yes. We have not heard much about them recently. Do you know how they are doing?_ "

" _Why don't we talk inside? I've got some stuff to say about them_ ," Oliver urged, shuffling the two teenagers along. The Team and Circus lost their visuals.

"They seemed calm, not like they're being threatened or anything," Artemis mused, grip tight on her bow. Kaldur realized that watching her mentor disappear into a mansion that could hide any number of enemies would be harder for her than the rest of them. He felt a flash of sympathy before he ignored it. Artemis was strong and so was Oliver. Everything would be fine.

Over the comms, they heard a new voice, " _Uncle Oliver! It's good to see you. I hadn't been aware we were going to be meeting, though. Or do you have a new adventure for us? We're rather bored, so we'll pay more than usual._ "

From next to him, Billy murmured to the group, "That's Commodore Murphy."

A new voice chimed in, " _Please tell me you've got something interesting._ "

Garfield muttered, "J. P. Houston."

The last voice giggled, " _He's just sore because his girl broke up with him last week. He wants something to take his mind off of it, poor baby._ "

" _Shut up, L.L._ ," JP shot back. So, the last voice was L. L. Houston, JP's sister.

Oliver interrupted before the argument could continue, " _C' mon guys, keep it together. I do have something of an adventure for you, but it's more like the Circus's adventure_." The group quieted to listen to Oliver. After a second, the archer continued, " _I don't know if you've heard, but the Justice League is going after a group called the Light? Of course, you already knew. Well, the Justice League and their offshoot team, the Team have been working on this. And they started working with the Circus_." He took a moment to explain the situation they were in, starting with the initial meeting, his own reveal to the Circus, the victory against the Light, and the current danger the Green Team was in.

M'gann reported softly, "I don't sense anyone but the Green Team and Green Arrow. Oh, there are some servants, but they're in the guest house at the moment."

"Keep an eye on those servants. We do not know if they are undercover Light agents or not," Kaldur instructed. He wasn't going to take any chances.

" _What are we talking about when we say, 'more constant communication?_ '" JP asked sceptically.

Murphy interrupted Oliver, " _What does it matter? Evading Vandal Savage? Helping take down the Light through our resources? Maybe sloughing it out and going to talk to some of those hidden metahuman centres we've found? That sounds like one great adventure to me! And it'll last a while, too. No more boredom for a while. And this is something we can do without interrupting Mo's current business deals or Cece's filming for that movie she's in. Sounds perfect to me!_ "

" _C' mon, 64, you can't be serious. Indulging in Cece's interest in the metas was one thing. Getting in the middle of all this superhero business? That's something completely different. Yeah, adventures are fun and yeah, the danger is great, but this is something different. I think you're letting your obsessions with heroes get in the way of your logic. This is too dangerous for us. We'll find a different adventure. We always do,_ " JP argued. Kaldur winced. This was not how they wanted this to go.

Murphy answered back, his volume starting to rise, " _You can't be serious, JP. This is the adventure of a lifetime! Besides, we'll have the Justice League, the Team, and the Circus looking out for us. Our businesses, our connections, and our reach make us a valuable asset. We're prime material here. The heroes and metas aren't going to let go of that. We'll probably be safer than ever before._ "

Sunbeam added, " _Besides, don't you ever get tired of just doing little adventures? We'll actually be doing something here!_ "

" _You know that the metas deserve better. We were going to get to this point anyway,_ " LL Houston added, obviously determined to push her brother on this.

" _Not with Savage breathing down our necks and an organization that the League struggled fighting out for us!_ " JP argued. Kaldur could imagine his arms flinging around himself. He wondered why Oliver wasn't saying anything.

Qahntii spoke next, delivering what would be the final blow, " _We are in danger regardless of whether we choose to embark on this adventure. This Savage and the remnants of the Light already potentially know who we are and what we represent. They will attempt to remove us regardless of whether we agree to this or not. At least with the adventure, we will be harder to find, and we will most likely have some sort of protective buffer_."

JP breathed out, rough and frustrated, " _Fine! What do I know? Do whatever you want!_ "

Sunbeam cooed at him, " _Aw, JP, don't be like that. It'll be great!_ "

JP's sister cheered with her, " _Yeah, JP! You just have to get in the right mindset and then you'll love it! Promise!_ "

His voice was softer when he answered his sister, " _Yeah, okay. Whatever. I'll try to get in the right mindset or whatever, okay? I swear._ " There was a smile in his voice by the time he was done speaking and Kaldur felt himself sag with relief.

Oliver spoke again, " _Alright, I've given you the background and the specs. You can talk payment over with Supersonic when you get in contact with him. I'm sure he's willing to haggle with you. Protection and security systems can definitely be applied to the best of our abilities, but you're going to have to wait a little bit for those to be put in place. We're still working things out. They'll be in by the end of the week, though._ "

" _And you?_ " Murphy asked.

Oliver answered easily, " _I've got a team watching us right now to make sure that no one attacks while we're all here. They'll pick me up as soon as it's safe to without drawing too much unwanted attention. We're off to see Loren next._ "

" _Ugh, what a bore,_ " Sunbeam grumbled. The others laughed.

Oliver spoke through his own laughter, " _Yeah, well, he's a rich bore. I'll talk to you guys as soon as possible, alright? And guys? If you end up talking to any Leaguers or Team members, please pretend you don't know who they are. I don't know who all you know and who you don't know, but please, for my sake and for their sake, just… pretend you don't._ "

There was something wicked in JP's voice when he said, " _I feel pranks coming on._ "

" _I regret everything,_ " Oliver mumbled before calling out to the group, " _Alright, I'm heading out. Talk to you runts later!_ "

The group chorused back to him, " _Bye Uncle Oliver!_ "

Oliver made it out of the mansion, getting easily into his car and driving away from the estate, the others following in the bioship behind him.

Once the car was a safe distance away, the bioship landed, allowing Oliver to drive the car into the storage bay of the ship. He came up into the main area of the ship moments later, "Glad they agreed. There was a moment there where I thought for sure they were going to veto it. Good thing LL and Cece are so passionate about metas. And they've got the guys _completely_ wrapped around their fingers. Cece more than LL, but LL's got her brother completely under her control. One more word from her and he would have been putty in her hands."

"I can't imagine being that rich, that young," Cameron said, shaking his head.

Garfield laughed, "We kinda are. I mean, all these rich people are technically directly paying us, right? Well, they're paying Wally or whatever, but you know what I mean. That's basically the equivalent of having that much money."

"Yeah, except we can't use any of the money," Billy pouted. After a quick glance from Cameron, Billy amended, "Not much of it, anyway."

"How much of your money goes to just enjoyment stuff?" Oliver asked curiously. It was a fair question coming from him since it was his money they were using.

Cameron shrugged, "Not a ton? We don't really need a lot, though. You can get books and stuff super cheap. People throw perfectly good board games out in the trash all the time. I think a lot of our 'enjoyment' money goes to Dinah's plants. It's not like there's a lot we need. We keep pretty busy with training and missions. We spent a lot of time learning new skills to make living together easier, you know? Stuff like that."

"That sounds disgustingly productive," Oliver said, wrinkling his nose.

Cameron shrugged again, "We've only been doing this for a year. Well, by now it's been almost a year and a half."

"That's a year longer than the Team's been working together," Artemis said with a small smile.

"And yet, you guys are probably still better," Cameron said back, his own smile curling around the edges of his lips. Artemis's smile widened.

"Hey! That's not true!" Garfield denied, snaggletooth poking over the edge of a lip as he sulked in his seat.

Billy rolled his eyes, "They're being disgustingly romantic, idiot. Trying to compliment each other by putting the other above themselves. It's a dumb technique, but I guess it works."

Cameron rolled his eyes rather aggressively, "Shut up, loser. You're just jealous."

"That I'm untethered and get to enjoy myself? Oh yeah. Super jealous," Billy said, eyes half-lidded in order to convey his seeming disinterest.

"Taking that tone with me, huh? Is that how it's going to be?" Cameron asked, a smile tugging at the edges of his scowl as he tried to appear intimidating while he was quickly losing composure.

Artemis groaned, "Is the entire trip going to be like this?"

The entire group burst into raucous laughter.

The entire trip was like that. Different people traded friendly banter between them, opening up interesting discussions to the group, sharing bits about themselves or their teammates. It was the most open Kaldur had ever seen not only the Circus but the Team. Normally, the Team sheltered their own histories behind their secret identities and the slightly cold indifference from the Circus. This was better, easier. Having their identities out in the open made it easier for both teams to share personal parts of themselves with each other. Maybe they could get back to headquarters and do some sort of bonding activity soon. Kaldur would love to use this energy while it still lasted.

But, the trip had to come to an end. The group moved to a more sombre mood as they got closer and closer to Jump City.

When they got there, Artemis gaped at the building they were aiming for, "Are you serious?" Kaldur couldn't help but gape a little himself. The building was an enormous 'T' shape. How did that even work, architecturally? It didn't look very stable. More importantly, how was this not a completely obvious homage to Loren Jupiter's team, the Teen Titans?

Kaldur asked, shocked, "How has he not been caught yet?"

Oliver laughed, "Loren could talk circles around anyone, and his bookkeeping is a work of art. He certainly knows how to run side businesses. I think he's actually the one that Wally talked to about setting up payment methods that wouldn't implicate anyone. I think it actually amuses him to make it so obvious and have no one guess."

They set him down the same way they'd done at Murphy's mansion. It was a little harder since they had to set him down in Jump City proper, but they managed to do it without being caught, thankfully.

Kaldur watched as they pulled up closer to the tower, following just a hint behind Oliver. He'd warned them that the sensors in the tower would pick up on the bioship, but there was no sign of that as they flew even closer. They were practically on top of the tower by the time Oliver walked inside, and the sensors hadn't gone off yet.

Kaldur unmuted his comms, "Green Arrow. I have a bad feeling about this. There is no obvious sign that any sort of sensors has picked up on the bioship. I request that you be very cautious and ensure that your comms are open at all times."

Oliver grunted slightly, a sign that he had heard and acknowledged Kaldur's request. Kaldur breathed a little easier at the acknowledgement. There had been no sound from Oliver's headset once he went into the building and Kaldur had been concerned.

It was still suspiciously quiet as Oliver moved through the building. They could hear him breathing, but there were no other sounds. A tower that large should have people working there, shouldn't it?

Lowly, quiet enough that the sensors barely picked him up, Oliver whispered, " _I know that Loren keeps this building incredibly low staffed to protect his secrets, but I should have run into someone by now._ "

M'gann asked worriedly, "Does it look like there's been a fight in there?"

" _No_ ," Oliver answered instantly, " _It looks like no one even came into work this morning. No fight, no abandoned things. Everything is painfully neat_."

"Is the company closed today? Would he have just cancelled for something?" Billy asked.

"Jupiter could have heard about the threat on him and cancelled work to bring himself somewhere better protected," Artemis suggested.

" _There's nowhere he owns that's more protected than this place. It's his baby. It's where the Teen Titans are based, as well_ ," Oliver answered, shooting down her idea.

"I'm sorry," Artemis said, "This dude has his illegal metahuman team based in his company's headquarters. I hope he's alright just so I can meet him at some point. He's _awesome_."

" _He's also very dead_ ," Oliver said, voice flat with fury.

Kaldur reacted instantly, "Everyone, move into positions. Miss Martian, please activate a mental link. Keep your communication units active even with the mental link in place. Be careful." With that, he leapt from the opening in the bioship, feeling the slight pressure in the back of his mind that indicated the mental bond M'gann had formed.

He saw Cameron and Billy visible flinch at the feeling, but they righted themselves quickly, easily moving into their assigned positions without complaint. It was the first time that M'gann had used a mental link with members of the Circus and Kaldur wished they had been able to practice it in training before attempting it in battle. It was slightly disconcerting to have others' minds brushing and speaking to your own mind. It was distracting. And they couldn't be distracted right now.

Oliver's voice echoed over their minds first, _I'm thirty floors up. That's where Loren's body is. The next floor is where the Teen Titan's HQ starts._

 _Understood. We are moving to your location right now_ , Kaldur acknowledged. He hoped they got there on time.

 _How was he killed?_ Harold asked.

Oliver paused before answering, _Must be some sort of poison. I don't see any signs of blunt force trauma. There's no blood anywhere or bruising along his neck._

 _So, there's a chance that the people who did this weren't ever here,_ Harold said.

Cameron spoke next, _Still, keep your guard up. Better safe than sorry._ There was a pause before he admitted, _This feels kinda weird and I'm not sure if I like it._

 _Somehow,_ Garfield said, _Even your mental voice is cold, man. That's the weird part._

 _Can we maybe focus as we go through the ridiculously shaped murder tower?_ Billy asked. Kaldur was startled to hear Billy's voice and not Shazam's. It made sense that Billy's mental voice would remain the same, regardless of the age of his body, but Kaldur hadn't really been expecting it.

Cameron answered back, the mental equivalent of a smirk flashing through their minds, _Spoilsport_. Billy sent back a disgusted grunt.

They all made it to Oliver. He was just opening a panel behind the desk when they came into the room. He looked back at them, "This is how we get to the other part of the tower."

Kaldur felt his heart ache a little bit when Harold and Garfield moved over to the dead body, completely at ease around the dead. How often had they seen dead? Kaldur remembered being in the camp in Wally's mindscape, remembered Cameron and Wally talking about people dying in the barracks. How often had that happened? How many people had they thought were alive until they went to talk to them?

Garfield stood there for a moment before swiftly changing into some kind of dog breed – Kaldur was not exactly well versed in land creatures. He sniffed at the dead body before reeling back and sneezing dramatically, entire body shaking with the force.

He shook his head a little bit, ears flickering before he put his nose to the ground and started sniffing around the room, going from little nook to little nook before eventually reaching a drawer on the desk. Garfield changed back into a human, opening the drawer before switching back to the dog form, burying his nose in the drawer and nudging his head this way and that to shift the things in there.

Carefully, Garfield dropped his teeth around something, pulling it out of the drawer and setting it gently on the counter. He turned back into a human directly afterwards, "Here's the poison. Smells like aconite." He twitched his nose again, rubbing at it slightly with the back of his hand.

Cameron grimaced, "That's hard to find postmortem. And that's a painful death unless he got a large dose."

Garfield shrugged, "The muffin's half eaten, and it _smells_ like it's half poison. I wouldn't be surprised if this killed him instantly."

"Is there some way to keep this safe? I'm sure Robin and Batman could use this. We need to know how they tracked down Jupiter and how they got this muffin to him. We could use that to help protect the others," Artemis said.

Kaldur weighed his options. On the one hand, it would be better for everyone to stick together. For all they knew, there were enemies just lying in wait for them. They could have planted this evidence just to get them to separate. On the other hand, it really would be helpful for Batman and Robin to have this information.

In the end, though, Kaldur couldn't risk it. If a fight came, they would try to preserve as much of the tower as possible for Batman and Robin to investigate (and, possibly, Barry; the man had told them that he used to work forensics in the CCPD – perhaps he'd be willing to come out and investigate as well), but their safety was the most important at the moment.

"We will stay together and cordon off the tower when we are done here for Batman, Robin, and, maybe, Flash to study. For now, we will move on and see if the Teen Titans are here and alive," Kaldur decided. The group nodded back to him.

At the front, Oliver quickly entered in the code, slipping open a door and sliding through, the others following behind him as silently as they could. Harold sent through the link, _Have you actually met the Titans before? Jupiter's obviously told you a bit about them, but have you met them?_

 _One single time. I thought that they were the most suspicious bunch of teenagers you could ever meet, but then I met you guys_ , Oliver answered teasingly, leading them through hallway after hallway. None of the lights were on. There were no voices.

M'gann said quietly, _This is like one of those haunted houses._

 _Don't say that!_ Artemis admonished, _Now that's all I'm going to be able to think about!_

 _Sorry…_ M'gann said sheepishly. Artemis just grumbled a little in the link.

Cameron shot a mental smirk at her, _I'll protect you_.

 _I'm sorry, what gave you the impression that I need your protecting? If anything, I should be protecting you,_ Artemis fired back.

Cameron sent another mental smirk, _I'd be down for that._

 _Get a room,_ Harold grumbled.

 _Focus? Anyone? At any point of this mission?_ Billy sighed.

Oliver held a hand up, successfully halting them and getting them to pay attention to their surroundings all at once. As he listened, Kaldur found that he could hear a slight shuffling ahead of them. Oliver told them, _That's the main room. If the Teen Titans were anywhere, they'd probably be there._

 _Might just be my natural paranoia, but I don't think it's the Teen Titans in there. Or, if it is, then I don't think it's just the Teen Titans,_ Cameron said hesitantly.

 _Is there any other entrance to this room?_ Kaldur asked. As it was, they would be walking directly into sight of whoever was waiting in the room – friend or foe.

Oliver shook his head, _None that I know of, sorry._

Cameron shook his head as well, _I know there's one other entrance, but the Teen Titans keep it really close to the vest. They want everyone else to only know of the one entrance so they can always see the people as they come in, but they wanted another option in case they were ever in the same kind of situation we're in._

 _There's no way we'll find that entrance fast enough. If I know the Titans, they'll have it_ very _well hidden,_ Garfield said, ears drooping a little bit.

 _Well then, we're just going to have to deal with what we have,_ Oliver announced, _We have to be ready for anything when we walk into the room. Be prepared to be instantly on the defensive._ Everyone sent their understanding back.

As one, they moved.

It was a nightmare scene in the main room. The room was obviously meant to be some sort of living room, somewhere safe to relax for a little while from the stresses of being a hero – metahuman or not, acknowledged or not. It was torn to pieces when they got there, the furniture ripped to shreds, burn marks marring every surface. One of the side tables was actually merged halfway with the floor. Blood splattered several surfaces, sometimes light sprayings of blood and sometimes huge puddles. There had obviously been a battle.

The sight of tall, looming men wearing Collection Agency outfits and self-satisfied smirks told Kaldur that the battle had been a losing one.

Next to him, Garfield froze at the sight of the Collection Agents, breath sputtering out of him in quiet wheezes. Kaldur quickly grabbed Garfield, manhandling him over to a spot of shelter as the Collection Agents opened fire on the group standing in the doorway.

Cameron pulled a huge shield made of several feet thick ice in front of them, Billy pulled a shock-frozen Harold into a shelter as well. Even Kaldur felt himself shivering slightly at the sight of the Collection Agents. The guards at the camps wore the same outfits as the Collection Agents. It was like he was back in that camp again, collared and treated worse than a piece of furniture.

He pulled himself back together, feeling another flash of respect for the metahumans of the Circus for being able to hold themselves together well enough to handle this.

Cameron hissed furiously through the link, _What do you want to bet that they've already taken the Teen Titans to a camp somewhere?_ The only answer he got was low cursing from several members of the team.

Garfield spoke shakily into the link, _I don't – I don't know i-if I can do, uh, do this._

 _You can do it, Gar. You're stronger than them. You've escaped. The only reason they caught you in the first place was that you'd already been malnourished. You're healthy and have been training to fight for years. Besides, you've got us now_ , Cameron answered instantly, sounding so completely sure of his words.

Harold spoke into the link, just as scared, showing just how young he really was, _But these guys took out the Teen Titans._

 _These guys surprised the Teen Titans. They're obviously not afraid to play dirty,_ Cameron said, still completely assured in his words. Kaldur watched as the metas around the room relaxed into his words, taking calming breaths.

Cameron's eyes, however, held all the fear he'd taken out of the others. It was obvious that he was terrified of these guards. He was only holding it together for the sake of his team. Kaldur resolved to make sure that Wally knew how shaken Cameron had been when they got back from this. Because they would get back. Kaldur refused to accept any other option.

 _What's the plan here?_ Oliver sent out. They'd decided that, although Oliver was the more experienced and senior hero, Kaldur would lead. Not only would Oliver be in an inconvenient position to lead as the one going in incognito, but Kaldur had led the majority of the people on the team before. He knew them better.

Kaldur thought for a moment before relaying the plan to the team. After a second to let them all digest their roles, they moved.

Cameron moved first, being the one currently holding the shield between them and their enemy. He suddenly rushed forward, adding long, mostly blunt spikes to his ice shield as he moved it forward in front of him. The enemy wasn't expecting that because they instantly scattered, some actually dropping their larger weapons in order to get away fast enough.

The others used that opportunity to come out of the little shelters they had managed. From that moment on, it was pretty much a melee fight – the enemy had scattered and Kaldur's team reacted accordingly. They each cornered off a certain amount of Collection Agents, taking them as they went.

On one side of the room, Harold, Garfield, and Oliver had trapped about seven Collection Agents. Garfield took on three of them, turning into a cheetah that dashed in and out around them, making clawed swipes at them whenever he got the chance.

Harold was using great arcs of electricity from the teched-up building they were in to strike whoever got close enough to him. He was using the electricity to knock bullets out of the way, too, which was something that Kaldur didn't know he could do. Handy ability. Oliver was fighting hand to hand with two of them, lashing out at them and kicking whenever he could. He'd accepted a mask, hood, quiver, and bow from Artemis when they'd entered the tower earlier. Oliver used the bow like it was a billy club, using it for defensive and offensive purposes at the same time.

Content that they had their parts handled, Kaldur turned to his own fight. There were two men bearing down on him, expressions twisted into practically feral snarls. Calmly activating his water bearers, Kaldur ducked out of the way of a bullet before moving in close enough that they'd have to shoot each other to shoot him. He ducked and dodged into their midst, trying to get close enough to knock them out with one of his water bearers.

Kaldur slid down onto his knees to avoid a weapon that seemed to act similarly to a cattle prod. He winced as the electric current raised what little hair he had on his head. That had been far too close. Carefully, Kaldur spun on his knees, balancing himself on a hand and swinging one leg out from underneath him to neatly sweep one of the agent's legs out from underneath him.

The man dropped, falling straight onto his cattle prod. It shocked him and didn't seem like it was going to be stopping anytime soon. Cursing in Atlantean under his breath, Kaldur ducked a blow from the other agent, kicking a foot out to roll the other guy off of his shock prod. He didn't want to _kill_ him.

Kaldur had to drop onto his knees again to dodge the other agent's cattle prod. Those things were _irritating_. Gritting his teeth, Kaldur spun himself back up again, knocking his water bearer against the base of the prod, trying to knock it out of the man's hands. He grimaced when the man held onto his weapon, even going so far as to slightly push Kaldur's arm back a little bit.

Suddenly, a bolt of ice flew out of nowhere, smashing into the side of the agent's head and sending him careening into the wall. Cameron called out to the room as a whole, "Sorry if I hit anyone!"

Despite himself, Kaldur felt himself let out a small huff of laughter. What were the odds? Shaking his head, Kaldur pulled himself back to the present.

Only to find that all the Collection Agents had been knocked unconscious. Cameron looked over them coldly, eyes filled with the ice that made up his skin, "I'm guessing we should take these guys with us back to the Watchtower to be interrogated or something."

Kaldur nodded, "Now, we will split up into teams. After all of the agents are properly secured, Miss Martian and Changeling will move the prisoners back to the bioship. Green Arrow and Artemis will start to secure the building and call the Justice League to inform them of what has happened. Myself, Icicle, Shazam, and Maser will check over the rest of the building to ensure that no one is here." Everyone nodded to him and split up to do their respective jobs.

As expected, there was no one else there.

There was, however, one chilling message scrawled onto a piece of paper pinned to the door of the evidence room. It was pinned there with what Cameron identified as one of the Teen Titan's hair pieces. It simply read: _My cause is noble. Your resistance is futile. Give in now before you are forced to comply._

 **Author's Note: I feel much better about this chapter. I really did just need a week off from writing, I guess. Wowza. That flowed better and I just felt better as I was writing it. Alrighty, thanks for reading! See you again in a week!**


	47. Chapter 47

**Author's Note: Here we are with another chapter! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **HI – I had a lot of fun writing the Green Team – mainly because I didn't really have any set standards to write them with. I've never actually seen/read anything with the Green Team, so I was going based off of their Wikipedia and wikia pages to design the character's speech patterns and opinions which was a lot of fun. Thanks for reviewing!**

 **Skie cat – Haha, I have not chosen who's going to be on the Teen Titans at the moment. I mean, I already mentioned that Raven's on there, but I've got no clue who the others will be. Ah well :P Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Wally groaned as he finished carrying the last member of his current team to the safehouse he'd be meeting the first group of benefactors in. He'd gotten lazy after all that time being carted around by the bioship. He'd forgotten how irritating it was to have to run back and forth to carry all his team members to a location. Ugh. Plus, the long month he'd spent in the Team's cell certainly hadn't helped him keep up his running form. Whatever. It wasn't anything that he couldn't get back.

Jinx's voice interrupted his thoughts before they could devolve further, "Are we sure they're at this safehouse?"

"Yeah, definitely. I talked to them to make sure," Wally affirmed.

Jinx side-eyed him, "Did you tell them who all was coming?"

"Absolutely not," Wally said. When her glare intensified, he hastened to amend his statement, "I told him that there were others coming with me! They just didn't ask, and I didn't offer the information. It's fine!"

Her glare got somehow more intense, "You know they don't like being surprised!"

Robin interrupted them, "The more you say about these guys, the more anxious I get."

"They're really not that bad," Wally said, sending a small look towards Jinx, "Really, I swear. They just… sometimes are the kind of people who act first and ask questions later. But I'm definitely fast enough to deal with that." Robin gave him a weak thumbs up in reply.

Sighing, Jinx walked towards the door, "Let's just get this over with, honestly."

Lips curving up in a little bit of a smile as Wally walked past her, brushing their fingertips together, Wally knocked on the door. It didn't take long for someone to answer. Thankfully, it was probably the most mild-mannered member of the team. Wally smirked at him, "They've got you stuck on door duty, I see. How're you doing, Mirror Master?" Robin made a choked noise behind them.

Sam smiled at him, "Yeah, they know I'm too much of a sucker. All they have to do is just not get up because they know I'll eventually do it. I'm doing good. I heard you haven't been doing so hot, though. Want to come on in?" He pulled the door open a little further.

Wally could _see_ the moment that Sam spotted Conner and Robin. His whole body froze, and his mouth dropped open (Robin didn't honestly look much better). Carefully taking advantage of Sam's shock, Wally pushed past him, dragging Robin and Conner in behind him. Jinx took up the rear, gently taking the door from Sam's grip and pushing it closed.

They managed to make it all the way to the living room where the others were gathered before Sam had recovered enough to come sprinting into the room, eyes wide. Sam shouted, "You brought a hero here!"

Most of the Rogues had already been mostly in their villain suits before Wally had gotten there, but those who had pieces missing frantically tried to cover up the last pieces as Wally's team came into the room. Digger started cursing as he jammed his hat on. Mildly, Wally responded, "I brought two, actually."

This time it was Mick that started cursing him out. Len glared at him, icy eyes somehow conveying their anger even through the mask, "What did you think you were doing bringing heroes into my home?"

Wally rolled his eyes behind his own mask, "They're not here to arrest you or fight you or whatever. They're here for protection."

"Protection?" Len asked, voice _dripping_ with disdain, "From what? Their egos?" Robin bristled behind them, but wisely didn't say anything.

Wally tried to steer the conversation back on track, "From the Light."

Hartley laughed incredulously, "What would we have done to get on the Light's bad side? We're not stupid, Supersonic. We know better than to antagonize people like that."

Grimacing, Wally answered, "Yeah, well, you've managed it. Theoretically. The Light is not exactly pleased with us at the moment. We think that the Light _might_ have information about our benefactors."

Sam's eyes narrowed in on them, "What did you do to set off the Light? And what does it have to do with the heroes? And how did the Light get information about your benefactors? That's, like, your most closely guarded secret."

Wally sighed, "That's kind of a long story."

"We have time," Len drawled, finally starting to sound more like himself and less like the angry (scared, oh so scared about the safety of his team, his family) man he'd been moments before.

Wally nodded and started explaining. It took him a while to properly explain not only the Light's situation, but also how the arrangement between the Circus and the Team came to be. The hardest part to explain was how their identities had potentially been exposed. It hurt to talk about how Jinx had gone to the other side, how she had been controlled for an unknown amount of time. He obviously didn't talk much about the time that he had been in the Light's headquarters, but what he'd said was enough to tell the others that something serious had gone down. Behind him, Jinx was practically shaking, trying to pull herself together.

Len slanted a careful, almost soft look at Jinx before his voice hardened and he asked, "Are you sure she's safe?"

Surprisingly, it was Conner who bristled first, growling out, "What did you say?"

Jinx interrupted any response the Rogues could have come up with, "It's fine. They have a legitimate concern."

Wally finished the statement for her, "We created a cure-tech for the Starro-tech that was being used on them and we had the Martians go in and wipe out any sort of programming that might still be hanging around. She's safe." Jinx was still shaking behind him, and Wally _ached_.

Len sighed, "Just needed to make sure. You know I trust and respect you guys, but this is my team here."

"I know," Wally answered, voice measured. He would've probably said the same things in Len's place. It was almost reminiscent of the situation with Roy, honestly. He moved onto his next topic to avoid thinking about it, "Look, we're trying to make some serious moves towards getting more acceptance for metahumans. The heroes have realized that pretty much everything they've heard about metahumans is wrong and they're trying to right those wrongs. We've also got that other anonymous team that's got a ton of connections. I'm going around trying to get increased communication with my benefactors in order to get them to help a little bit with the increased acceptance. Plus, I needed to warn all of you that you're potentially in danger. The heroes are willing to set up protective details for you."

"Definitely not," Mick growled, voice low and gravely, "There's no way we're getting some _heroes_ to babysit us."

Len cut in, "We'll just go underground. I'm not sure what you want us to do with the increased communication, though. We don't have the same kinds of connections as your other benefactors surely do. We aren't going to be able to help."

Wally rolled his eyes, "Please. Are you seriously trying to tell me that you don't have any political leverage to use? That you don't know anyone who has someone's ear in the government sphere? In the private sphere or the public sphere? Criminals can do just as much for this as anyone else can. And you've at least got a good reason for it."

Mark immediately shook his head, "Oh no, don't bring me into this. Being the only meta in the group doesn't mean you get to use me as some sort of mascot or excuse or whatever. Let's just forget that I'm a meta for a little bit, yeah?"

Robin made a curious noise, "You're a meta?"

"Got a problem with that?" Mark sneered.

Len sighed, "Weather Wizard. Behave."

Mark turned the sneer onto Len before turning back to Robin, disgust sketched over all of his features, "Yeah, I'm a meta. You seriously telling me that people out there don't know that? That the heroes don't know that I'm a meta?"

"You use that wand thing," Robin pointed out.

Mark raised his eyebrows, "Yeah. Your point? The wand just focuses my abilities, gives me the chance to control them. But I'm still a meta like any other. There are lots of metas out there that use devices of some sort to control their powers. It's not like I'm that rare or anything."

Robin blinked at him, "How many metas are there out there that we just assume are people using enhancements of some sort?"

Sam gave him a bemused look before turning a half-glare onto Wally, "I thought you said that the heroes were actually starting to learn stuff about metas. That's something that people who actually take the time to care about metas learn right away. I'm not seeing any sort of commitment here. You'll forgive me if I don't necessarily trust a bunch of heroes."

"But can you trust me?" Wally asked. This was the crux of the issue, honestly. Wally had already told them that the heroes honestly wanted to help and that he vouched for them. It would be the Rogues' trust in Wally that would decide if they'd extend their trust to the Team or the Justice League.

Len watched him for a long moment, measured and careful, "We know that heroes can be right sometimes just like anyone can. We know that most heroes are good people. But we aren't going to follow them. If it's necessary, we'll work with them, but it has to be completely necessary. On this particular occasion… it's necessary. But barely. We're not taking the 'protection' of the heroes. I don't trust that at all. We've already burned this safe house. I'm not going to burn any more. I'll only accept communication if it's guaranteed to go directly through a Circus member or, _maybe_ , a member of this other underground meta group. We won't communicate with a hero. And – this is the most important part – if the Light isn't dealt with by the end of the next month, all deals are off until they're dealt with. I'll give you that month of breathing room, but anything else is too much time to put my team in danger."

"Two months," Wally immediately countered. Len just gazed at him coolly, not even bothering to response. Wally grimaced, "45 days."

Len narrowed his eyes at Wally, but eventually sighed, "Deal."

"Good. Jinx, were you getting that written down?" Wally asked, puffing out a breath of relief. Jinx nodded and pointed to a piece of paper that had been hovering next to her. Quickly, Wally read over the paper, making sure that the agreement matched what everyone had said. He jotted down a quick signature before passing it to Robin, "You're going to act as the hero representative. If this works for you, sign underneath my name. Captain Cold will sign last if it works for him." Robin nodded and quickly scanned over the paper the same way Wally had. He signed it soon after. Len took a lot longer reading it over. He paused about halfway through before going back up and reading it over again. Finally, he signed the paper, throwing it up in the air where Jinx caught it, rolling up the paper and tucking it under her sleeve.

Wally offered the Rogues one of his rare, soft smiles, "Are you guys sure you don't want the Justice League offering protective services? You're going to go underground and be indirectly working with them anyways. I don't want you guys to get hurt."

James smiled at him, wide and toothy, "We won't get hurt! We're the Rogues! Don't worry about us, Baby Sonic!"

Wally's smile automatically dropped into a scowl, "I told you to stop calling me that, Trickster."

Hartley chuckled, "Please, once Trickster chooses a name, it won't go away. Just give into it now. It'll be better for you in the long run."

"Absolutely not," Wally said, scowl deepening. He could hear Robin snickering behind him. He sighed again, "Alright, we've got one more meeting to make, so we're going to have to leave. Thank you guys so much for doing this. We'll deal with the Light as fast as we can, alright? If you ever change your mind about the protection, just let us know."

"Not going to happen, but thank you for the offer," Len answered easily. Wally nodded to him and that was that. Most of the Rogues went back to whatever they were doing as Sam led the rest of them out of the house. He gave them one last wave before closing the door behind him.

Robin turned to look at Wally, "Alright, who's next?"

Jinx glanced over at Wally, "Even I don't know this. This benefactor was the one that you and Cameron won't tell the rest of us about."

"That's because he requires absolute secrecy. I'm still not going to tell you his name. You can try to find him if you want to or you might end up overhearing it, but I'm not going to directly tell you. He's the person with the most sway and information that the Circus has," Wally answered, rolling his neck to get the cricks out of it before he started running.

Robin's brows furrowed, "You're just making me more curious. But why bring us at all? It's not likely that he'll be compromised, so you shouldn't need backup. I mean, I definitely want to know, but it doesn't sound like you need us there."

Wally wrinkled his nose, voicing a fear that he hadn't mentioned to many, "I mean, we've got to face the facts here. By the time I was taken by the Light, they already had a completed Starro-tech model, right? I wasn't conscious for the entire time. Who's to say that they didn't get information from me as well? I've gotten Miss Martian to check my mind for mental commands, but that still doesn't rule out the idea that I might have had Starro-tech implanted for a stretch of time."

Conner gazed at him seriously, "It wouldn't be your fault if you were."

Wally sighed, "Yeah, I know. It's not really any of our faults. It's still a mess, though. And we still have to be careful. That's why I need you guys. The Light might believe that this guy would be the one approached by the least amount of Team and Circus members because of all the reasons you just gave. I'm most suspicious of an attack here where we'd supposedly least expect it."

Robin nodded, "Fair enough."

"Ready to go, then?" Wally asked. Robin and Jinx said yes at the same time, causing them to send each other startled looks. Conner grimaced at Wally but nodded all the same. Conner wasn't the fondest of being run at high speeds. Wally felt like a good portion of that dislike came from the fear that Wally would drop Conner. On the one hand, Wally kind of understood because Conner was massive compared to him. On the other hand, Wally regularly toted Kelvin around and Kelvin dwarfed Conner. Still, it was understandable, and Conner allowed Wally to carry him regardless. That was all that Wally asked for in the long run.

Quickly and efficiently, Wally grabbed the three members of his team and carried them over to Colorado. As the meeting with the Rogues had been winding down, Wally had sent off a message to Max, letting him know that he should start heading to the meeting point. Hopefully he'd be there by the time Wally got there.

Wally dropped off Jinx, Robin, and Conner a short distance away from his meeting place. They would hopefully be hidden from view. Wally knew that Max wouldn't mind the extra protection, but Wally hadn't gotten a chance to warn him that there would be others, so he was going to make sure that they were hidden. It was just easier that way.

When he looked out towards the meeting point, he was pleased to see that Max was already there. Wally zipped over towards him, stopping directly in front of Max and feeling very grateful for the covering of the trees around them, "How're you doing?"

Max scowled at him, "Are you seriously asking me that with the amount of trouble you're putting me through at work?" Wally grinned at him. Max rolled his eyes, "Whatever kid. I'm just saying that this little fight you've got going on with the Light is causing all sorts of problems. Not to mention you working with heroes! We had to have an entire meeting talking about how we wanted to deal with that."

Max – Maxwell Lord – was someone who was known publicly for his peacekeeping efforts. He had created the company of Maxwell Lord Enterprises and was known for working towards expanding League influence to an international degree. In government and spy circles, though? He was _not_ known for his peacekeeping. He was the Black King of the American programme called Checkmate – an anti-metahuman offshoot of the Task Force X programme.

He had also pioneered the merging of Checkmate and the UN's Chartered Metahuman Monitoring Force. To all who were watching, Max looked like the kind of person who _hated_ metahumans. He looked like the kind of person who wanted to wipe them all out.

His biggest secret, though, was that _he_ was a metahuman. His work as head of operations in Checkmate was to try to minimize damage to good metas while still stopping the bad metas from causing problems. He tried to lessen the harm of laws that were passed, too. He gathered information and hints about the anti-metahuman forces of the world that helped the Circus and Holo City remain hidden.

As far as Wally knew, the only people who had knowledge of Max's metahuman status and intentions while working at Checkmate was Wally himself, Cameron, and Amanda Waller (who Wally had met once and never, ever wanted to meet again) who was the mastermind behind the Checkmate programme.

"How did you decide to deal with that?" Wally asked. Typically, Max would drop off his information with the money to reduce chances of their meetings being found out, but sometimes they'd meet in person if the information was important enough. This was definitely one of those times.

Max sighed, "Right now? Ignore it. The Light is still too big of a threat to be too offended. If your alliance keeps going for much longer, then they're going to start smear campaigns against the Justice League. I won't be able to get anyone to budge on that fact. They're pretty dead set on that."

Wally growled in frustration, "Seriously? Well screw that. That's what the Light wants!"

"How do you mean?" Max asked, eyes sharp.

"The Light is trying to get rid of the League through force or discrediting in order to allow more humans to evolve into metahumans or something," Wally started. He quickly backtracked and explained the entire situation again.

Max frowned and directed the conversation back to a point Wally had made almost in passing, "The Collection Agency was created by the Light?"

Wally narrowed his eyes; he wasn't expecting Max to see anything particularly interesting about that, "Yeah… why?"

Max grimaced, "The Collection Agency is run by Argus." In Wally's ear, there was an explosion of cursing from Robin.

Wally felt a little bit like cursing himself, "Seriously? So, you're saying that Waller might be in on the Light?"

"I don't think that. She's ruthless and more than a little crazy, but I don't think that she'd do something like this. I can't see where it'd benefit her or her ideas," Max said. He added wryly, "She hasn't finished profiting from secret metahuman groups and fights. Once she's done profiting, maybe then she'd be fine with everyone becoming metas. As it is now? I don't think she directly condoned this."

"But you think that she doesn't know that a part of Argus is working independently of her and for Savage?" Wally asked dubiously. From everything he'd heard and from the one time he'd met the woman, it didn't seem like there was anything in her programme that she didn't know about.

"I can't be sure," Max said, "But I can look into it. I mean, if the Light really was working as hard as they could to make the public hate metahumans, then there's a chance that she or her people were indirectly manipulated into creating this whole mess. I'll definitely look into it."

"Be careful," Wally warned.

Max flashed him a crooked grin, "C'mon, man. I'm always careful! Don't give me that look! Seriously, though, I'll be fine. Push comes to shove, I've got backup plans to escape. You've always said that I'm welcome in Holo City. If you get me the new coordinates, then I can factor that into my escape plan, alright? Hopefully, it won't come to that."

"Hopefully," Wally muttered, eyes crinkled with worry.

Max softened at the look, "Seriously, kid. It'll be alright. I'm not the Black King of Checkmate for no reason. I'll be fine. This is some serious stuff going on. Someone needs to do the research. I mean, I'm sure that some of your new hero friends have an in or two with Argus, so they can try to explore some leads too. And I know that the past and present Suicide Squad members have some sort of communication between them. You can ask Captain Boomerang if he's still in that communication and you can see if any of the Suicide Squad members know anything about it."

Wally nodded to Max thankfully, "Those are great starting places, thanks." He rubbed at his forehead in aggravation, "This is just really frustrating."

"I can imagine. Speaking of frustrating, I've got to get back to the office pretty soon. Was that everything you wanted to mention? Increased communication, new coordinates for Holo City incoming, potential danger from the Light, focus Checkmate's intentions onto the Light, research Argus's connection to the Collection Agency and therefore to the Light. Sound good?" Max asked, glancing down at his watch with a frown.

Wally mentally thought through the list Max had just given, "Sounds about right. I guess, beyond that, prepare for a wave of pro-metahuman thinking. I know that goes directly against Checkmate and the Monitoring Force's directives and that's going to cause some issues early on."

"Tell me about it," Max sighed, "I'll get on it. Brace for impact so to say. I'll start drafting up some plans on how to rearrange the Checkmate programme to work _with_ metas instead of against them. It might be good to have a plan like that in place for when you eventually get metas accepted."

"Those are some pretty high hopes," Wally warned.

Max smiled that crooked smile again, "I believe in you kid. Anyways, I gotta go. Talk to you later."

"Bye," Wally threw back, bemused as always when people called him kid. He was still shaking his head when his teammates slipped out of their hiding spots, coming up to his sides.

Robin was openly gaping at him, "One of your benefactors is _Maxwell Lord_?!"

Wally raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, what about it?"

"He's known as being one of the most anti-metahuman people on the planet! He heads and/or has a high-ranking position in _several_ metahuman capturing organizations!" Robin hissed.

Wally smirked at him, "Well, no one's going to guess that he's actually a metahuman, are they?" Robin made a strange wheezing noise in response.

Jinx interrupted Robin's freak out, "The Light's influence runs a lot deeper than we thought it did, huh?"

Conner frowned, "How long has the Light really been an organization? It seems like every time we find a potential starting point, it turns out they've been in operation since years before that."

"It's fine," Wally said, "We'll work it all out. Right now, we're probably bigger than the Light. With the number of Light members that we wiped out, our combined forces and connections have to dwarf the Light's. Their plans have been messed up and their numbers have dwindled. They're going to be panicking and they're going to be working with a lot less resources than they're used to, which is going to put them off balance. We're going to be able to take them."

It was at that very moment when their comms lit up and Artemis told them, without hesitation, " _The Light has taken the Teen Titans._ "

 **Author's Note: I'd like to just point out that some DC people and organizations are going to have slightly different backgrounds or functions or whatever just because of how AU this story. Also, some of these characters I have had little to no interaction with and I'm just designing speech patterns and actions based off of what I read about them on wikia or Wikipedia. Just so you know! Thanks for reading!**


	48. Chapter 48

**Author's Note: I'm going to be real honest and say that I had a little notecard where I wrote down all the character names (because there are a lot of characters to keep track of) and I highlighted who was with Wally and who was with Kaldur and I underlined the people who wouldn't fight and I put a star next to the injured people. It was beautiful. And then my cat literally ripped it to shreds. So, I made a new one by re-reading through the chapters (instead of making it as I wrote as I'd originally done) and I'm really, really sorry if I mess up where a character is or how they're injured or whatever. Oops :P Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **HI – I did promise people that I was going to bring the Rogues in. It just took me a lot of chapters to get there, haha. Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

They just couldn't catch a break. No matter what they did, they couldn't catch a break. How was that fair? Villains caught breaks all the time.

Wally sighed, rolling his neck and glancing at the crime scene again. It really, really sucked that Loren was dead. He was not only a great gateway to other metahuman groups and an enormous source of money, but he was also an essential part of the creation of the Circus – he was the one who helped set up the system that allowed the Circus to have benefactors in the first place. Wally pinched the bridge of his nose. He was going to have to go to Holo City and make a comprehensive report on how the new city was going. He was going to have to make some serious sacrifices and compromises with this blow to their funding. Sure, Oliver said that he was going to increase his own funding a little bit, but he wanted that to be mostly focused on the wellbeing of the Circus as opposed to the city. And even if he was giving the money straight to the city, it still wasn't enough to make up for such a drastic loss in funding. Loren had been giving them _a lot_ of money.

"What're you thinking about?" Robin asked curiously, typing something into his wrist computer as Batman prowled around the scene, Barry hovering in the background.

Wally scowled, "Funding. The Circus and Holo City just took a massive hit. The Teen Titans. None of them were camp escapees and a lot of them aren't actually metahumans. What's going to happen to them? Are they going to be kept together? All going to the camps? All going somewhere else? Or are they going to be split up? I'm thinking about why there were no people other than Loren and the Titans in this building at the time of the attack. That doesn't make sense. It's a work day. Why would Loren tell everyone to not come in today? Was he being followed?"

Batman interrupted their conversation, sounding almost… hesitant, "I could replace Loren as a benefactor."

Narrowing his eyes, Wally warned, "You're getting dangerously close to revealing an identity here." It was just Batman, Robin, Barry, and Wally in the room at the time and Wally was certain that Batman was literally incapable of forgetting things, but he still felt the need to remind him that most people didn't, in fact, know Batman's identity. Just admitting that he was rich enough to replace Loren as a benefactor was already a lot of information. Wally could honestly just try to look into which super rich guy lived in Gotham and had connections to any of the Justice League members that Wally knew the names of. He was also pretty sure that Robin was at least kind of related to Batman, so that was another thing he could use to try to find Batman's identity.

Voice sharpening a little bit back into his usual growl, Batman said, "I'm well aware. I would like to help regardless. I can set up a donation system that won't link my actual identity and the money."

"Thank you," Wally said softly. It wasn't a complete solution. Wally would still need to talk to the people of Holo City and try to budget accordingly because moving an entire city wasn't the cheapest experiences, especially with the influx of children from the camps. Wally grimaced again just thinking about it.

Batman nodded tersely to him, going over to stand next to Robin and talk to him about his observations in a low voice. Barry took his cue to go over the room forensically. His eyes were narrowed on the room, carefully sweeping it with his eyes before he went over the hard evidence. Wally watched the whole thing with rapt attention. He could remember being super fascinated by this kind of stuff when he was just a kid. Forensics was _awesome_ , honestly. The best parts of science and helping people put together.

Eventually, Barry made a vaguely interested sound, catching the attention of everyone in the room. He glanced up, startling when he realized that everyone was staring at him, "Uh, sorry. Now, my forensics are a little rusty after nine years off the force, but I think I found something. I've definitely got a couple sets of fingerprints that aren't the victim's, but this is an office area. A private one, yes, but an office area. There's every chance that this doesn't belong to anyone of note. But, more importantly, look at the degradation of this muffin. The aconite has eaten through the integrity of the muffin. Which is partially due to the half eaten state of the muffin and the pure amount of aconite in here, but my point is that the muffin must have received the aconite fairly close to when Mr. Jupiter ate it otherwise it would have completely degraded by the time he tried to eat it. Which is strange because the muffin was in the drawer which people typically do if they're leaving something as a snack for later."

Robin narrowed his eyes (which, somehow, the whites of his mask displayed), "Not necessarily. If he was eating it to be polite to someone else in the room, he could have just eaten half before putting it away when the other person left. He probably wouldn't have wanted to finish it because it likely tasted awful. That much poison wouldn't have tasted good."

"Then why eat it? Loren was a suspicious guy. Wouldn't he suspect something like poison if his muffin tasted like that? Aconite isn't a particularly pleasant taste by all accounts. It's super bitter and then your mouth starts burning before going numb. That doesn't sound like something that a suspicious man like Loren would just let go," Wally said, eyeing the muffin as if it could give him all the answers.

Biting his lip in consternation, Robin sighed, "Maybe he just thought that it was a particularly bad muffin?"

"What if someone got him drunk first? Might not have been as obvious if he was drunk," Barry suggested.

Wally wrinkled his nose, "It's supposed to be a really bad taste, Uncle Barry."

Batman cut in, "Someone was talking to Mr. Jupiter. They got him drunk, sat him down for a friendly conversation and let the alcohol keep coming. At the end, they convince him to eat a muffin. They tell him it's something that they made for the first time or it's something their kid made. Mr. Jupiter wouldn't be so surprised if it tasted bad. He's drunk and not expecting much of the flavour, but he still eats it to be polite. What does that mean about the identity of the perpetrator?"

"Mr. Jupiter _knew_ them," Robin breathed out excitedly, Batman watching on like a proud parent, "They were able to keep the conversation going long enough to get him drunk because he knew them. That's why he allowed himself to get drunk in their presence even though he's so suspicious. He would be extra guilted into trying the muffin if he knew the person."

Barry nodded thoughtfully, "That explains the lack of bakery or grocery store bag around the room. If he'd bought it somewhere, there would have been evidence of that. No one buys a muffin and just gets the muffin, no bag, no logos."

"So, who does Loren know and trust enough to be able to do this?" Wally asked.

Robin was already tapping away at his wrist computer, "I can figure that out! It just… might… take a little… little bit."

Batman's expression had turned uncomfortably fond by that point, a softening to his harsh features that honestly left Wally more unsettled than comforted. He gently put a hand on Robin's shoulder, carefully guiding him towards the elevator that would lead the two of them downstairs to the waiting Batmobile.

Somehow, Batman had managed to get the Jump City government to let him and whoever he wanted sift through the crime scene before their police did. It was… kind of weird and a little concerning, but Wally wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Wally's shoulders bunched anxiously when he realized that this left him and his uncle in the same room alone. They hadn't really been alone since… probably since they reunited back in that field. It was… disconcerting for Wally. He didn't know how to act.

Barry cleared his throat, "You, uh, you don't have to stay if you don't want to. I… well, I know you're not… exactly comfortable. So, um, yeah."

Cheeks burning with the awkwardness of the situation, Wally cleared his throat as well, "I'll… probably stay. You know. Do you, um, need help? With anything? I don't – don't really know as much as I'd want to about this kind of stuff, but I can help if you want."

Looking pathetically grateful for the olive branch Wally had just extended, Barry nodded, "Yeah, that'd be great. We can't really take a whole lot from the crime scene because the actual police need to go through it as well, but we can still get pictures and little samples. There's honestly not a lot of information to _get_ from the crime scene. You said that you and the others picked up as much as you could from the Teen Titans part of the tower, right? And you guys got pictures?"

Wally nodded, "Definitely. As far as we're concerned, the Collection Agency is part of the government and the government is the police, so the Collection Agency and the police are probably going to coordinate on this. That means that people will likely end up knowing that this was the headquarters of the Teen Titans. We don't want the police, and therefore the Collection Agency, to end up taking some of this stuff. Especially the personal stuff. The Titans have already been taken. I'm not going to let them lose their personal belongings."

"Do you know the Titans well?" Barry asked, handing Wally a set of latex gloves to slip over the gloves of his suit. He did so bemusedly, inwardly laughing at the ridiculous picture it presented.

Wally shrugged, "Better than I knew Loren. We've worked with them a couple times. We helped them on a couple problems, and they've helped us. We've trained with them a time or two as well. They're good people. They don't deserve this."

"No one does," Barry said softly. He admitted quietly, "It scares me how easily the Collection Agency took them. It scares me because… because I don't want them to take you again."

"I wasn't fighting back last time," Wally said fiercely, "My powers had just set in and I was confused, disoriented. And I believed that my parents knew what was best for me when they gave me to the Collection Agency. They won't _ever_ take me back."

Barry watched him, eyes wide, "Rudy and Mary gave you to the Agency?"

"Is that really so hard to believe?" Wally asked, uncomfortable.

Barry's mouth fell open, "Yes! How could they do that?"

"It was right when metas were really starting to be a bad thing. As far as everyone knew – as far as they _still_ know, - the camps are actually helping metas. They sent me to the camps to get me fixed. I was messed up with these powers and they wanted me fixed. There are _tons_ of family members and friends and concerned acquaintances who do this all the time. I'm not an isolated incident," Wally said, voice unintentionally becoming more defensive. The phase of his life where he blamed his parents was short-lived and ugly. Blaming them for something that, ultimately, wasn't their fault and didn't (in his young, child-love washed memory of the events) seem malicious didn't make sense to Wally. It was too much effort for something that didn't really matter in the long run.

Mouth twitching into a little frown, Barry sighed, "I'm not trying to say anything, Wally. I'm just… beating myself up, mostly. I should have been there to help you. This entire organization I've built up and I couldn't even save my own nephew."

Wally's eyes darkened as he thought of all the people he'd failed to save. There were the people at his camp that he hadn't managed to get out. There were the people who he wasn't able to save when he raided metahuman trafficking markets or illegal experimentation facilities. There were the children he wasn't able to rescue during the world-splitting event. His voice was quiet and tired when he said, "Nothing good comes out of blaming yourself for not being able to save people. You've done a good job with your organization, saved a lot of people. The ones you couldn't save… that's not on you."

For a long moment, quiet reigned in the room, blanketing them in something heavy but almost… almost comforting. It was like they're reached some sort of understanding, some sort of platform they could both stand on. It wasn't the easy relationship they'd shared some nine years ago, but it was a start.

Breaking the silence, Barry blurted out, "Iris and I were going to grab some dinner and bring it back to our house tonight. Did you… or, uh… would you… would you be interested in joining us?"

Wally panicked. For a brief second, he panicked, inwardly flailing. What. _What_. He blurted back, "Can I bring Cameron?" Instantly, his cheeks heated. What a stupid question! He was basically rubbing it in their faces that he considered his team to be more of a family than they were. Idiot, idiot, _idiot_.

Except… Barry was beaming at him, "Yeah, that'd be great! I would love to get to know him better. He's kind of like a brother to you, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Wally smiled, relaxing a little bit at Barry's easy acceptance, "He's my best friend and my brother. I don't know what I'd do without him."

"Well, then he's kind of like a nephew to me, right? If he's your brother, then he's my nephew. I should get to know both of my nephews at the same time," Barry said, a little smirk hidden behind his great big beaming smile.

Wally snorted, "Please start calling him nephew. See how he reacts. But you have to wait until I'm there to watch his reaction. That would be amazing."

Barry winked at him, "I'll make sure to use the phrase when I invite him to dinner. It'll be nice to have a family dinner. All this stuff with the Light has keep us so busy that Iris and I haven't really gotten a chance to sneak away. But the rest of the Alliance basically staged an intervention and said that the two of us needed to stop working so much, so here we are." He rolled his eyes at the end to show Wally exactly what he thought about the idea.

Wally smirked, "You can't tell me that you're not just the tiniest bit pleased."

Laughing, Barry admitted, "Okay, yeah, I'm definitely pleased. It's just one night, but it'll be great to just kick back and relax for the first time in a while. I'm looking forward to a several day long vacation as soon as this nightmare with the Light is over."

"My team wants to go on a vacation," Wally said, forcing himself to keep up with the light chatter instead of losing his focus back to the Light.

"Oh yeah," Barry mused, "I remember you mentioning that. They were trying to convince you to go before you ended up going after the Light. Where would you even go on a vacation?"

"Hadn't really gotten that far," Wally admitted wryly, "It's not like we're an inconspicuous group. One of our members is green and the other is a solid mass of red, armoured skin. I guess it would have been nice to go up to Holo City for a little bit, relax there with the metas we've rescued. Or we could have visited Africa. I know Gar's wanted to go back there for a while. He misses his home."

"His home?" Barry asked curiously.

Instantly, Wally's defences rose. What was he thinking just giving away information about his team like that? Slowly, Wally tried to force himself to relax, to lower his barriers. They'd all revealed their identities and Wally had talked to the rest of the Circus, had found out that they were willing to share pretty much anything at this point. There wasn't much that the heroes or the Alliance couldn't find out once they knew their name, honestly.

Taking a deep breath, Wally said, "Yeah. Gar's parents were researchers who lived with African tribes and helped them with medicine and science while they researched the fauna and flora. Gar was taken from Africa when his parents died."

Biting his lip, Barry looked like he was struggling with a decision. He squared his shoulders for a moment before apparently deciding on something. His voice was forcibly light when he said, "I bet he's got some interesting stories from when he was a kid."

"Definitely," Wally smiled, relieved that Barry seemed to have decided to take the lighter path of conversation, "Mostly stories of the messes he got himself into in the jungles. It sounds like he didn't have a lot of supervision, really. I'd almost be jealous, but those same jungles turned him green, so I'm not too jealous."

Barry snorted, partially in amusement and partially in surprise, "I'm pretty sure extended time in the jungle _isn't_ what caused him to turn green."

Wally smiled, quick and silly, "I know _that_ , Uncle B! There was a weird monkey that bit him. Then there was other stuff or whatever, but it was definitely the monkey that bit him _while he was unsupervised_ , which was my point." Barry grinned at him, unrepentant (or, maybe, it was because Wally was being so open with him or maybe it was because Wally had called him Uncle B).

"Alright, alright," Barry laughed, "Well, I think we're about ready to head back. Race you?"

"I mean, sure, but you also always win, so it's hardly fair," Wally grumbled. It really was unfair how much faster Barry was. He had already finished growing into his powers _and_ he'd had two or so more years of actually having his powers. Rude.

And then it didn't matter because they were _running_. Barry stayed right by his side, laughing and sprinting paces ahead of him just to mess with him. Wally growled playfully back, pushing his energy into making the run.

In the end, the two of them spilled into the HQ seconds apart, Barry barely in the lead. Barry executed a neat stop, heaving with laughter as lightning shattered and sparked onto the ground around him. Wally hadn't quite mastered that skill and instead skidded through the room, lightning sputtering out behind him as he nearly crashed into the wall, hands smacking into it moments before he was able to slow himself. He collapsed against the wall, wheezing breathlessly. It took him a few seconds to realize he was really, properly laughing for the first time in… in years. The wonder of the moment only made him laugh harder.

By that time, the two speedsters had gathered quite a crowd. Barry was still laughing, clutching his midsection and almost bending over with the force of his laughter. Wally had slid to the ground at that point, head thrown back with his own laughter.

From one side of the room, Wally could vaguely make out his own team, clustered together. Dinah and Kelvin looked _delighted_. The rest had quickly growing grins on their own faces. Cameron called out, "Barry, I think you brought someone else back with you. My fearless leader is incapable of happy emotions."

"Screw… you…" Wally wheezed out through his laughter. Cameron grinned at him, bright and solid and pure.

The gathered heroes and metas were still looking on in amusement when Barry's laughter finally died down a little. He sent Wally a wink before turning to Cameron, "So, brother of Wally and nephew of mine, would you like to join us and your aunt for dinner tonight?"

The gobsmacked look on his face sent Barry and Wally into fresh peals of laughter.

BBBBBB

Barry fluttered around the kitchen, increasingly nervous, "What if they don't like it? What if they think it's too simple? What if they think it's too fancy? I should have asked them what they liked. Oh my God, I should have asked them if they have allergies! What if they're allergic to it? What if we kill them?"

Iris cut in at that point, eyebrows raised judgementally, "Barry, _breathe_. They're teenaged boys. I doubt they're very picky with what they eat. Besides, we have dessert, so that will make everything better. As for allergies, I'm not sure if speedsters can even _have_ allergies with how quickly things are metabolised in your system. With Cameron… I think they would have mentioned it. Or we would have heard something during the time he was working with us."

Taking a deep breath, Barry tried to focus on what Iris was saying. It was ridiculous to be as worked up about this as he was, but Barry really was nervous. He wanted Wally to accept them as his aunt and uncle again. He wanted to be part of Wally's family. And, honestly, Cameron seemed to need a family just as much as Wally so obviously did. Well, as much as the rest of the Circus did.

If Barry was being really honest, he wanted the relationship that Hal and Harold had. They were so close to each other! True, they hadn't been separated as long as Barry and Wally had been, but Barry had things going for him! Wally and Barry had the same powers. That was something they could bond over, right?

He took another deep breath. It was going to be alright. It was _going_ to be alright.

Iris rubbed a comforting hand down one of Barry's arms, "There. Feeling better?"

Barry blew out a breath, "Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Love you."

"I love you, too," Iris smiled, leaning in for a kiss before turning back to the meal, "Now, stop pacing and go set the table. They should be here any minute. Unless Wally somehow managed to pick up on your chronic tardiness."

Barry blushed even as he raced into the other room, utensils in hand, "I'm not that bad!" He set napkins at all four places, carefully placing the utensils out at each napkin.

He straightened the table placemats and the chairs even as Iris called back, "I have a very, very long list that would disagree, dear!"

"I resent your implications!" Barry sang back, grinning. His wife always knew how to calm him down when he got all worked up like that. He really wasn't much of a worrier, honest, but this was important to him. It had been so long since Barry had given himself the chance to think about the family he'd left behind.

Of course, Barry himself didn't have much family. With his mother dead, the only person he really had was his father. But it broke Barry's heart to not have been able to visit his father. There were times where he'd considered sneaking into the country to visit him, but there were too many risks. He could never risk his organization, not even for his father. And that hurt more than anything else. The worst part was that he knew that his father would understand. Even though his dad was in jail with no way to know what happened to Barry, where he went, if he was even still alive, his dad would be _glad_ that Barry was branching out, making friends, saving people. He'd probably be a little disappointed that Barry still hadn't given up the search for his mother's real killer (with the rise of metahumans, Barry had basically gotten confirmation that the presence in his living room that night hadn't been his imagination; the impossible really did exist), but he'd be proud of Barry otherwise.

Barry wasn't really all that close to Iris's family either. The only part of his family he'd _really_ been close to was Wally's immediate family. Barry had thought that him and Rudy wouldn't get along because Rudy seemed like the macho man bully type that Barry had unfortunately _not_ left behind in high school, but Rudy wasn't really like that. He was certainly rough around the edges and had a disproportionate love for sports, but he always took the time to listen to Barry rant about work or just science in general. He didn't have any unsavoury opinions and his thoughts didn't honestly stray too far from Barry's. Plus, when the two of them were drunk (ah, the good old days when Barry _could_ get drunk), they could get into some seriously fantastic debates.

Mary was nice, too. Barry didn't see her as much, though. Mary was a mousy little thing that seemed to prefer Iris over the boys in the room. She was very sweet, though, and tougher than you'd expect. She was _also_ someone who you could get into fantastic debates with when you were drunk. She was the best, however, when she bragging about her son. Praise didn't seem to come quickly or easily in the West household, but it was sincere and wonderful when it did come.

Barry was pretty sure that Mary and Rudy didn't want Wally to get a big head and that was why they were always so sparse with their praise around him, but when the kid was in a different room or asleep or something of the like, they would go on and on about him like he hung the sun and the moon. It was sweet. Barry just wished that they would have been a little freer about their praise before he was taken away from them (except, he wasn't taken, was he? They gave him up).

Wally was his _favourite_ of Iris's relatives, though. He was the sweetest little kid, all wide green eyes and cute little freckles and a fantastic curiosity. Every time he came to their house, he started out so shy and careful around them, but it never took him long to open up, blooming into an excitable little kid. Barry _loved_ doing little science experiments with the kid and giving _heavily_ edited versions of work stories. Honestly, spending so much time around Wally was what first made Barry really want kids. Of course, they'd made their escape soon after and hadn't wanted to have a kid while they were hiding out like this. They wanted their kid (who would most likely end up being a metahuman) to grow up in a world that could accept it.

So, for the time being, Wally and Cameron were as close to kids as they were going to get. And Barry was incredibly excited.

The doorbell rang before Barry could fall any further into his memories. No use being nostalgic when he had the present to focus on. He called out, "I've got it!" as he raced towards the door.

He was already grinning before he even peaked through the little hole in the door, spying Wally and Cameron through it. He flung the door open, ushering the two into the house with wide, sweeping motions and a huge smile.

Cameron flicked a quick hand signal at Wally that left the young speedster smirking, but Barry had yet to figure out _any_ of the hand signals, so he had no idea what Cameron had said. On the one hand, Barry thought it was cute that Wally and Cameron had their own little secret language (and it really was secret; apparently, none of the other Circus members knew it). On the other hand, Barry hated the reason _why_ they had their own little secret language. Still, that wasn't what he wanted to think about at the moment. He wanted to only think about happy things. Nothing was going to ruin this dinner. He was determined.

And nothing did.

They made it to the kitchen without any sort of problem where Iris took them in, ushering them over to their proper seats and dishing out their dinner – an easy, simple Shepherd's pie that Iris was excellent at making. She quickly assigned Barry to get the drinks and settled the two kids into an easy conversation, "Have either of you ever had Shepherd's pie before?"

Wally squinted at the meal, "Pretty sure you've actually made it for me before. Said it was award winning or something?" Iris smiled at him in acknowledgement.

Cameron shrugged, "Twice? Maybe? I think I remember a neighbour bringing it over for me and my dad once and… I think… I think Harold made it once? I'm pretty sure Wally, Kelvin, and Garfield were on a mission at the time, but I'm pretty sure Harold made it for us."

"Well, Cameron, you're in for a bit of a treat. This really is the best Shepherd's pie you'll ever have. Iris makes it the best," Barry bragged, not at all shy about complimenting his wife's cooking. She really was the best. Of course, Barry wasn't _too_ bad himself, but she was definitely the better of the two.

Cameron smiled at them, soft and genuine, "I'm sure it will be." There was some sort of emotion in his voice, something _longing_ that _tugged_ at Barry's heartstrings.

As always, Iris came to the rescue, "Out of curiosity, what are your favourite things to eat? Just so we know for future reference." She winked at them at the end.

It was cute how they both looked at each other real quick before they spoke, Wally answering first, "I'm really not sure I have a favourite. Eh, I guess Chinese food? I like cashew chicken."

Cameron made a quick gagging noise, "That's literally disgusting. Cashews are not meant to be in chicken."

Wally scowled at him, "Tell me a better Chinese dish. I _dare_ you."

"Princess chicken. Kung Pao chicken. Happy family. Literally _anything_ other than cashew chicken," Cameron scoffed, ticking the dishes off on his fingers.

Wally rolled his eyes, "You're disgusting."

"Yeah? Well, you're… uh, well… dang it, Wally!" Cameron pouted.

Snickering, Wally grabbed himself a bread roll from the little basket in the middle of the table. Petulantly, Cameron did the same. Wally stuck his tongue out at Cameron.

From the other side of the table, Iris was watching the two of them with a starry-eyed look, hand clasped to her chest. Barry felt about the same.

These two kids… had faced the world, all of it. And that wasn't something that _anyone_ should have to face. As beautiful and wonderful and fantastic as the world could be, there were a lot of ugly parts of the world, a lot of pain and suffering and horror. Cameron and Wally had faced it all and still, even now, retained such strong characters. As weary as they sometimes looked, the two of them always looked like they could take on the world again and again and again.

They were so strong, so amazing. Barry wanted to wrap them in blankets and never let them out into the world again. He wanted to keep them here where he could protect them and keep them safe. He wanted… he wanted them to be his own, honestly.

Barry shook his head at his ridiculous thoughts. How silly was he? So, he dove back into the conversation. They might not be his own, but they were still family and he still loved them like they were his own. He was going to take care of them, as much as he could.

 **Author's Note: A tiny bit of plot and a whole lot of fluff. Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!**


	49. Chapter 49

**Author's Note: Here I am! Another chapter with no clear plan :P ALSO! Just another little warning: I got a new laptop. Now, I've had my last laptop since, like, before I started writing fan fiction, so a good five or six years ago now and it had literal smooth spots on the keys that I typed on the most. This new laptop doesn't have that (yet) and it feels weird typing on it, so I might have a few more errors than usual. Sorry! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ! Okay, just letting you guys know that I have not watched the new YJ episodes or whatever. SO DO NOT GIVE SPOILERS! I will end friendships over spoilers, so please don't put any in PMs or reviews. Thanks!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **HI – The dinner scene was a lot of fun to write. I almost wish I wrote a little more, but I think I would have ruined the moment, haha. Thanks for the wonderful review! (By the way, your review did post, but it posted under 'Guest' instead of 'HI')**

 **Skie cat – Haha, everyone needs a little time of relaxation before everything goes south. Cameron needs all the love he can get. Thanks for the lovely review!**

WWWWWW

Wally slowed to a stop as he watched Kaldur bury his head in his hands, breathing harsh and sharp. There was a fading glow from the television in front of him, showing that he'd just received some sort of message.

Carefully, Wally walked into the room, trying to walk loud enough to be heard, but quiet enough to not fully disturb Kaldur, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I… you knew the Teen Titans, correct?" Kaldur asked, voice faltering.

Concerned, Wally moved closer, sitting at the desk chair next to Kaldur's bed, "Yeah, I knew them. Did you find something out?"

"One of the Teen Titans left a… message for their friends and family in the event that the Collection Agency took them. They mentioned that they were not supposed to leave a message, but that they wanted their friends and family to understand why they went missing because no one, not even their girlfriend, knew that they were part of this team. I believe you knew him as Tempest?" Kaldur finished abruptly. Wally nodded hesitantly. Kaldur's eyes darkened in grief as he spoke barely above a whisper, "I knew him better as… as Garth, my best friend. His girlfriend, Tula, was the woman I loved, but he got to her first. They were perfect together."

Wally's mouth fell open at Kaldur's words. No wonder the Atlantean was so distraught. The worst part was that Kaldur had experienced a little bit of the camps – if that was where the Collection Agency even took them. Kaldur knew how awful the camps were. And if the Titans weren't brought to the camps, then who knows where they'd be brought? For all they knew, it'd be somewhere worse. Words catching in his throat, Wally did the only thing he could do. He wrapped his arms around Kaldur, dragging him into a slightly awkward hug.

Kaldur didn't seem to care because he burrowed into Wally's arms immediately. Carefully, trying to not dislodge the other teen, Wally snuck his foot out towards the door, nudging it closed. He didn't want anyone else walking in on this like he had.

For a long moment, Wally held Kaldur as the older teen broke down in his arms. Kaldur shuddered as he cried, little miniscule shakes and shivers that broke Wally's heart. Then, once the tears stopped flowing as freely, Kaldur leaned back a little bit, still slightly ensconced in Wally's arms, "How could I have missed that? Why would he not tell me?"

Wally's lips turned down slightly, "I mean, he was obviously _trying_ to hide, so it's no surprise that you missed it. The Teen Titans have only been around for two or three years, so it's not like it's been happening for a very long time. As for why he wouldn't tell you… I'm not sure. I don't know enough about him to guess at that. Well, generally speaking, not a lot of people or heroes have favourable opinions of metahumans. He might have been afraid of how people would react to the fact that he was actually aiding and abetting an underground metahuman resistance group. That's all kinds of illegal and his king and best friends were heroes – people who _stop_ criminals. Just like the Circus, the Teen Titans were considered international terrorists."

Some strange expression spasmed over Kaldur's face, "My best friend was an international terrorist?"

Wally shrugged uncomfortably, not really sure that this was the best method of comforting, "According to most governments, yeah. They were an inspiration for the rest of us, though. Not sure if that helps or hurts, honestly."

Something approaching a smile flirted the edges of Kaldur's face before it melted away again, leaving only open grief and betrayal, "I have made so many mistakes in regards to metahumans."

"Oh, no. No, Kaldur. You really, really haven't. You've done more for us than most anyone. Never get upset at what's happened in the past. You didn't know any better," Wally instantly argued. He wasn't going to let Kaldur turn this into an opportunity to disparage himself.

Kaldur was already shaking his head, though, "No. That is not an excuse. I _should_ have known better. I should have taken the time to learn more about metahumans. It was… there are times, now, that I wonder how the world could have possibly been blind enough to not realize this was happening. The _entire_ world was lied to and no one bothered to search deep enough into it to find the truth."

"You are," Wally pointed out, "You're doing it right now. That's all that matters."

"It took us _nine years_ to look into it," Kaldur pointed out, voice bitter.

Wally shook his head, "That means nothing. Nine years ago? When this all started? When people were already brainwashed enough to believe that metas were bad enough to lock up? You were only seven years old. Not old enough to understand this kind of complicated stuff. Not old enough to _have_ to understand. Plus, you were in Atlantis. I doubt you guys got a lot of news about this kind of stuff down there."

"Garth received news about this. Enough to decide to secretly join the Teen Titans. Did he not think that I was open-minded enough to understand the situation as well? Did he not believe that I was capable of change?" Kaldur asked, expression openly vulnerable in a way that left Wally wishing Robin or Roy were in here instead of him. They'd know how to handle this better. Wally was probably making it worse.

Lips pursed in frustration, Wally tried not to sigh, "It's not that strange of a concept, really. People do that all the time. There could have been extenuating circumstances that allowed him to see the truth of metahumans and he was afraid that without those circumstances he wouldn't have been able to convince you. He might have thought that he wouldn't have been able to keep the secret between just the two of you and any more people might have been considered a threat to his team. I mean, imagine no one knew that you were a part of the Team and everyone in the world was against the Team. Would you risk telling him? Without definite proof that no one else could hear you and that he would believe you and have the same beliefs as you, would you risk telling him? Even though he's your best friend?"

Kaldur sniffed a little, not even bothering to try to pull together any sort of composure, "No, I suppose not. There would be too many risks involved in that kind of situation. Too many unknown variables. I would have to obtain express permission from all of my teammates first. Maybe… maybe some of his teammates were uncomfortable with anyone else knowing."

"That would make sense," Wally said, desperately hoping that was the case, for Kaldur's sake, "A lot of metas are suspicious of others. And there were other people on the team that weren't metas who had families that would condemn them if it was revealed that they were working with metas."

A commotion right outside the door interrupted Kaldur's response. After a second, the door shuffled open, revealing Robin and Roy, eyes wide and genuine. Robin panted out, "We just heard about Garth."

Kaldur's expression crumpled again and Wally let go so Kaldur could be pulled into Roy and Robin's arms. Unfortunately, they were standing directly in front of the door, preventing Wally's escape.

Roy huffed out a rough breath, "So, the Teen Titans were a lot more than we were expecting."

"What do you mean?" Kaldur asked, trying to discretely wipe his eyes, holding in another wave of tears.

The whites of Robin's mask widened, hands flailing out around him, "It's insane! They had Garth, right? They also had Donna Troy. As far as Diana, her mentor, knew, she was still on Themyscira receiving more training. She'd had no idea that Donna was out there fighting with the Teen Titans for the last year and a half. STAR Labs is freaking out, too because two of their people are in on it. Dr. Stone's son is on the Teen Titans and so was one of the head scientists. She apparently made a lot of non-lethal weaponry."

Roy added in, "Evidently there was this alien chick that J'onn mentored in, well, acting human who was with the Titans, too."

Wally raised his eyebrows, listing off, "Tempest, Wonder Girl, Cyborg, Bumblebee, and Starfire. Not a single one of their families knew that they were on the Teen Titans? See, Kaldur, I bet they all just agreed that, to protect everyone else, they weren't going to tell anyone."

"Were there _any_ metahumans on the Teen Titans?" Roy asked incredulously.

Wally snorted, "Yeah, there were three. The only other non-meta was Raven. She's half human, half… Azarathian? I don't entirely know what to classify her father as, honestly. Then there are the three metas. Hot Spot, Jericho, and Pantha."

"How were they considered an underground meta group when literally two thirds of their members were _not_ metahumans?" Roy questioned.

Wally shrugged, "I mean, how could other people tell? You can only really tell if someone's metahuman if they're tested, right? People assumed most of them were metas. I think they thought Cyborg was a, well, Cyborg or robot or whatever. But otherwise? Why would anyone assume anything different? They fought for the rights of metahumans, so they must be meta terrorists as well." His voice had turned bitter at the end and Wally winced, trying to reign in that poison. It didn't do anyone any good to be bitter about all of it. He just needed to fix it and that was that.

Kaldur blinked at him, "People truly believed that Garth was a metahuman?"

"Yeah. Could you imagine the scandal it would have been if they'd thought anything differently? That would have been _disastrous_ if the government thought that Atlanteans were working alongside the metahumans. Well, they think that now, but the Light is a big enough problem that they're not worrying about it. Yet," Wally answered, frowning a little bit by the end.

Roy frowned with him, "Let's hope we can swing public favour over to our side quickly, then. We really don't want the government to be getting in our way."

"Especially if the government is possibly working with the Light," Robin muttered, obviously frustrated. Wally felt kind of out of his depth sitting there between the three of them. From what he'd seen, Roy, Robin, and Kaldur were, like, the original sidekicks, the first teenaged heroes. They were the level all the others aspired to get to, and they had _years_ of butt-kicking together to buoy their relationship and teamwork skills. Sitting there, feeling like they were including him, but also feeling the gap of those years of friendship he didn't have, was a strange, discomforting experience.

Roy frowned again, "I don't think the whole government is working with the Light. I think it's just Argus. And, apparently, only a subset of Argus."

"But how much of the government does that subset of Argus control?" Robin countered. A _ding_ interrupted their burgeoning argument. Robin looked down at this wrist computer in surprise, "Already?" He started tapping login instructions into the device.

"Already what?" Roy asked archly.

Robin muttered back, "I set up a programme to guess at the identity of the person who killed Mr. Jupiter. That was saying that my search came back with a potential subject."

The whole group leaned forward eagerly as Robin started scrolling through the information. He froze in shock when he finally got to the name. Wally couldn't see it from his angle and didn't quite feel comfortable enough to crane around to see it, so he was glad when Kaldur said numbly, "James Houston."

"Is that the JP Houston that you guys met up with just the other day? Wasn't he reluctant to help us?" Roy asked, voice pitched higher with concern.

"That's his dad," Wally answered, eyebrows drawing together, "But his dad doesn't know about the whole Green Team thing. The guy's been galivanting off all over the world, picking up a new chick every country while JP's been left halfway running the company and trying to make sure that his sister at least gets a childhood. Why would he suddenly be a part of the Light?"

"Or," Robin posited, "Mr. Houston finds out about the Green Team _through_ the Light. The Light recognizes the threat that the benefactors pose and decides to deal with it as quickly, effectively, and hands-off as they can. They tell Mr. Houston about the Green Team, about the Circus, about the threat on JP and LL, about _something_ and word it so it sounds like Mr. Jupiter, actually complicit in all of these things, had more to do with them than he actually did. If Mr. Houston believed that Mr. Jupiter was the reason his kids were into this dangerous stuff and had a threat against them, is it really that much of a stretch to think that he'd be willing to kill the man?"

Wally's nose wrinkled, "I'm honestly not sure if he cares about JP and LL that much."

Robin waved a dismissive hand, "That's because you don't trust adults." Wally blinked at him as Robin just continued on, "This makes sense. Because, if we go after James Houston to get information about the Light and to arrest him for killing Mr. Jupiter, what are the odds that JP feels like he should pull out of the agreements he made with Oliver? Can you see the Green Team sticking with us if we're responsible for putting one of their parents in jail?"

Wally blanched, "I know I'm supposed to feel some sympathy for them and all that, but all I can picture is the absolute blow it would deal us if we lost that much funding. Especially right after moving Holo City. I… I don't know if the Circus would be able to continue going after the Light. Holo City is our priority. There are so many people there that are relying on us to protect them and make sure that their city can function. Without that money, we'd have to… there's so much we'd have to do. Extreme rations until we could find another money source. We wouldn't be able to save _anyone_ else because we'd barely be able to keep the people we had. It would… that would be a devastating blow to the Circus if we lost all of that money."

The other three gave him slightly scared looks that said that they hadn't expected that. Robin asked, voice hushed with the severity of the situation, "What do we do, then? We need the information that Mr. Houston could provide, but… we can't lose the Green Team. And we can't just let Mr. Houston go, either. Not after he _murdered_ someone."

Frustrated, Wally raked his hands through his hair, blowing out a harsh breath, "It's okay. We can deal with this. I guess… we've got to get some timing down. I'll need to talk to JP and LL while you guys are taking down James Houston. I would like to talk to them first, but we can't risk them warning him. I hope they'd be reasonable enough not to, but who knows? People do things out of character when it comes to protecting family. And JP is _fiercely_ protective of the things he loves. We'll see if his dad falls in that category. And I'm not going to tell them after we've already taken James Houston in. That's just… cruel."

"Can you get in contact with them now? I can get some of the JL members to go arrest him or whatever," Robin suggested.

Running his hands through his hair again, Wally nodded, "Yeah, this is within the hours they said they'd be available. Go ahead and let them know. I'm going to call them now." He tuned out the sound of Robin making the report as he made his own call.

He didn't have to wait long before a bubbly, high-pitched voice sang into the device, " _Green Team at your service! What can we do for you today?_ " Cecelia finished it off with a high-pitched giggle. It sounded like they were having some sort of meal together.

Wincing, Wally said, "Hey guys. This is Supersonic. Could I have a moment to talk to just JP and LL? Are they there?"

" _We're here!_ " LL responded. There was the sounds of footsteps and the mealtime sounds faded into the distance. Eventually, LL spoke again, " _Alright, it's just the two of us now. What's up, Supersonic?_ "

"It's not good news," Wally warned.

JP scoffed, " _We've already heard about Loren. The old coot's death was all over the news. Besides, one of the bodyguards you assigned us told us. And why would you need just the two of us for that?_ " Wally wasn't offended by JP's rough handling of the topic; he knew that was one of JP's defence mechanisms.

Wincing, Wally said, "We know who the murderer is."

There was a long pause before JP said, voice low, " _LL. Go back to the tea party. No,_ " He spoke over her immediate refusal, " _I'm not kidding, LL. Go back. Now. I'll fill you in later, alright?_ "

" _What?_ " LL cried, " _The kid friendly version? I go on adventures just like the rest of you! I'm not some little kid!_ "

" _Go back to the party, LL!_ " JP shouted. There was a slight clang from the direction of the tea party and JP sighed, low, aggressive, defeated. There was another long pause before LL gave a small sigh, her heels clicking against the ground as she walked off.

JP finally spoke back into the device, " _The only reason you'd ask for the two of us to specifically talk to is if the killer is someone we knew. And your guy said that the killer was someone who_ Loren _knew, so… there aren't a lot of people who fit that description. It…_ " He paused for a second, voice trailing off. Eventually, his voice gained back strength and he finished his question, " _It was my father, wasn't it?_ "

Wally sighed, "Yeah, it was. I called you while one of the others called in a team to arrest him. We're going to be trying to get information about the Light from him before he's sent to jail."

Instantly, a barrage of multilingual curses filled the room, spilling out of the device like vitriol, a bitter, slick oil. JP stopped swearing, panting into the device, " _Why would he do that to us?_ "

"That's something you're going to have to ask him yourself. The guess of my team? It was to protect you," Wally said.

JP laughed, low and harsh, " _Yeah right. He's never done a thing in his life to protect us. If anything, it was to protect his precious company funds from being sent to help metas._ "

"You don't know that," Wally immediately argued.

When JP spoke again, it wasn't angry anymore. It was just _tired_ , " _Yeah, sure. Whatever makes you feel better. You know what? I don't care why he did it. Screw him. I… I'll let LL know. And… thanks. For calling us. For letting us know before the grapevine did._ "

Wally deliberated for a moment before admitting, "If I'm being honest, part of my motivation was to make sure that you wouldn't get mad and pull out funding."

JP snorted, " _Yeah, yeah. Sure. We keep up with you and your team's actions. We talk to Oliver, too. We might be humans, but we're humans that are risking everything to protect metas. To you, that means we're worth the same amount of respect and protection as your metas. I think, sometimes, you care more than you want to._ "

A little flustered at the frank delivery, Wally said, "Well, uh, yeah. It's… good of you. To do this. To help us. Even though it really is dangerous for you guys. Even though it pulls you into this messed up world."

" _Keeps things interesting_ ," JP said.

Wally huffed out a laugh, "I'm sure it does. Are you sure you don't want me to tell LL? I'm okay with telling her if you don't want to. It sucks to have to give someone that kind of news."

JP's voice was quiet when he admitted, " _I'm scared of telling her, scared of how she's going to react, but… this is better to hear from family. She'd be more likely to believe it. I don't think she knows much about Dad. I think she's got this fantasy built up about him and that's what she pretends he's like because he's not around enough for her to form a proper opinion. I got this, though. It's fine._ "

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop the Light faster. I'm sorry that your family was hurt because I couldn't take them all the way out," Wally said, a sigh slipping out afterwards.

JP paused before saying, " _Honestly? This shows that Dad's capable of murder. I'm glad that he's put away because he hurts someone I know better. What if you had defeated the Light and he hadn't killed Loren? He could have gone after me or LL or Mom instead. I'm not saying it's good that Loren was killed, but… rather him than someone from my family._ "

Voice thick with understanding, Wally said, "Yeah, I get that."

JP sighed, deep and troubled and far too weary for someone so young, " _Alright, I'm going to go out. Tell LL. Probably tell the rest of the group right afterwards. Just… make sure you get something useful from him, alright? God, I have to tell Mom, too._ "

"You just worry about LL. We'll take care of your mom, alright? I'll see you later, JP. Hopefully under better circumstances," Wally said.

Laughing a sad little laugh, JP said, " _Yeah, right. Until the Light is dealt with and people stop hating metas, you aren't going to call for anything other than business or bad news. You'll be too busy._ "

"Ugh, don't remind me," Wally moaned, "My life is tragic."

JP's laugh was a lot more lighthearted that time, " _You know, you've gotten a lot more open. A lot happier. You were so suspicious when you first met us, so_ hard _. You honestly scared me a little bit. But Cece and LL were so enthralled with your plight that I knew we'd have to go along with whatever you were doing. And then your organization started growing and I saw the things you were doing and… I don't know. I've never felt like I was doing anything really important before, you know? I mean, I never_ wanted _to do anything really important. That was for people who cared. I'm just some random teenager who pays people to give me adrenaline highs. But I felt like I was doing something good and, better yet, I was doing it in a way that I loved. It was… more than I could have asked for. You don't scare me anymore. Rather… I think I'd like to get to know you more. Outside of all of this stuff. I think you'd be a pretty cool guy. And I think you'd make all of us better people. Until Uncle Ollie told me, I didn't know that you had escaped the camps. I just… want you to know that even though the Green Team doesn't know you all that well, we all think you're awesome and we're all glad that you've been able to come into your own. Joining up with the heroes? It's made you happier than I ever imagined you could be from that first meeting_."

"JP…" Wally breathed, more touched than he thought he'd be at JP's words. He really didn't know JP or the rest of the Green Team. Of all his benefactors, he'd had the most interaction with Max, but even that had been a very little amount. Were all the benefactors this invested in his progress? In him? Now that he was looking for signs, they all certainly acted like it. He'd thought that he was just a vehicle for them to anonymously help a cause they were kind of passionate about – something to just do every once in a while and forget about. It was why he was so surprised that all of the ones they'd managed to find had willingly decided to step up their involvement.

Guess that showed him. He really did have some sort of prejudice against humans, didn't he? No, that wasn't quite right. But he had certainly lost faith in them. Maybe that was the same thing. Maybe it wasn't. Either way, he was getting humans and Atlanteans and aliens to admit they were wrong in their views of metas. Maybe it was time he looked at how he was looking at the humans.

Stuttering out a jagged breath, Wally finally said his farewells to JP, heart breaking at the news he had to go deliver to his sister. Yikes.

When he turned back to face the other three, they were giving him intense looks. He just managed to get out an, "Uh, guys?" before they started talking.

Kaldur started it, "You are not the only one who has grown through this alliance. I feel that all of us have grown and become more of our true selves through this experience. As much as I wish that the Light had never came to be, I am glad that it was able to bring us together. Wally… I might not understand as much about the woes of metahumans as I should after months of working and living with them, but I aim to do better. I know now how much you all have given up for this fight and I know how much you still need the world to get up and realize what is happening. I will fight for you on this."

"And we've got more weapons for that, now," Robin inserted. Kaldur raised an eyebrow at him and Robin grimaced, "Bad wording, sorry. But my point still stands. The aliens are going to be mad that the Collection Agency took an alien. STAR Labs is going to be mad that two of their members were taken. The Atlanteans are going to be mad that one of their soldiers was taken. The Amazons are going to be mad that one of theirs was taken, too. Anyone even tangentially related to the hero world is going to be furious that the Collection Agency took all of them like that. They're going to call for a better look at the whole organization. We can get a lot of stuff revealed this way. We're a step closer to fixing this whole thing."

Wally slumped a little back against the chair he was still sitting in, "Somedays, I feel like all we do is get 'one step closer' to fixing it, but that getting one step closer doesn't do a thing. Is there any fixing this? What happens when we fix it? Metas are released from camps, are free from all the stuff that other countries do to them. So what? We get discriminated against on the streets. We'll get discriminated against when we try to get jobs, when we try to get into college – if we can even get to college anyways. I'm fifteen years old and my education is equivalent to that of a third grader. I'd have to take some sort of special education thing to get me to the level I should be. Otherwise I'm that weird _fifteen year old_ in _elementary_ school. There are tons of people in similar boats to me. I have no workable skills either. Nothing to get me a job. There are people out their whose parents disowned them when they went into camps.

"The adults have just as many problems. Some won't be able to get their kids back because courts have already given them away to the closest family member. Bank accounts are frozen indefinitely so we can't use the money if we run, but in order to keep taxes down, money from those frozen accounts have been used to supplement anything the camp doesn't build or grow itself. There are people out there who don't have a half, a third, a _fifth_ of the money they started with because the government has _seized_ it or whatever. And the Collection Agency or whoever's in charge never bothered to take any sort of inventory. The clothes I came in with? Gone. Probably donated or incinerated. Some people came in with wallets that had driver's licenses, social security cards, other important things. Some people came in with purses that had passports, keys to their house, etc. All of that is gone. They don't keep that anywhere.

"The camps aren't prison. Nothing's taken care of. We don't have any contact. Some family don't even know that their family members are in the camps. They think they're missing or dead or something. Stuff is going to be sold. Houses are going to be sold. People will come back and their apartments will be rented out to someone new. People are going to come back and their partners are going to be with new people. Some people won't have anyone to come back to because their family still hates metas. There's no life for us to come back to after all of this is over." Wally finished, immediately embarrassed that he'd just blurted all of this out to people. The only ones he'd really confided these fears to were Cameron, Jinx, Dinah, and Kelvin.

The other three were staring at him with gobsmacked expressions. Robin reacted first, speaking earnestly, "We can work on that! If we start to slowly introduce those ideas to the public, then people can start planning relief efforts. I know we're still moving kind of slowly with introducing the horrors of the camps to people and all that, but we don't even need to introduce the actions of the camp into these arguments. We just need to mention that the camps _are_ designed to help 'cure' the metas or whatever. That implies that metas are supposed to come back out at some point. With public favour swinging towards the metas, they're going to want to know what reintegration for 'cured' metas is going to be like. This will still make them mad enough to start planning for change."

Roy smiled at Robin's obvious enthusiasm, "Have you been bottling all of this up this whole time?"

Wally gave them a hesitant smile, "Kind of. I've talked to some of the others about it, but it wasn't like we could really do anything at the time. All talking about it did was stress us out, you know?"

"Are you really so worried about being free? That sounded wrong. I really understand where your worry is coming from. But, is it really that concerning? What are you most worried about? Personally, for once. Don't worry about everyone else, worry about yourself," Roy responded back, gently teasing.

Sighing, Wally said, "What am I most worried about? Maybe the fact that I'll be going from leader of an underground meta group back to… a kid. I mean, I've been more than independent for over a year and a half now. And there certainly weren't any adult guardians in the camps. It didn't matter if you were an adult or a kid in there. You were just treated like a metahuman. It'll be weird… _bad_ , honestly, going back to being a kid. I'm not used to relying on adults and I don't _want_ to rely on adults. Well, if I still get to be free. Resistance group or not, right reasons or not, I've still be an international terrorist for a while. I've done some sketch things. There's a good chance my next stop after all of this is jail."

"We would not allow you to go to jail," Kaldur stated fiercely.

Wally smiled at him, "You don't really have much of a choice. I've committed crimes. So, my options are jail or going back to my parents. If my parents want me. I'm a meta and if they were all cool with metas, they wouldn't have called the Collection Agency."

Robin and Roy blanched, and Wally paled with them. He'd been being so open with people recently that he'd forgotten that there were things that he didn't really want to tell people. That was one of them. They didn't need to know about his personal drama.

Robin whispered, "Your parents sent you to the camps?"

"No, my parents were following the law and were trying to help me. As far as they knew at that time, being a metahuman was something uncontrollable, dangerous, and needing to be cured. They were just trying to cure me," Wally defended, hackles immediately rising at the horror in their faces. Why did people always react like this? He continued, "Like I told Barry just the other day, there are _tons_ of people in that same situation. That's what happened to Lorraine. Her father called the Collection Agency. It's not a bad thing. For all they knew, they were trying to help. If you found out a loved one was a metahuman before you met me, you would've had very little problem committing them to the camps."

"Don't you see?" Robin said, "That's what makes it so horrible."

Deflating, Wally sighed, "Yeah, I get where you're coming from. I guess I've just gotten used to the idea. I think, in the camps, there are three main stages for people whose families called the Agency. You start by just desperately missing your family. Then you start to blame them. And then… then you just don't really care anymore. It's not worth blaming them. They were doing their best. Being mad wasn't going to get you out of the camps and being mad wasn't going to make you feel better if you did get out of the camps. At a certain point, you stop caring about petty arguments and disagreements as long as you get to someday see that person again. And maybe I'll be mad again when I see them, but, for now? I'm just afraid they won't be okay with metas. I'm afraid we won't click back together. Like my aunt and uncle. It's getting better, but I'm so awkward around them. I last saw them _nine_ years ago. I was a little kid. I don't know how to act around them. It'll be the same with my parents. They missed a huge portion of my life so far. A couple more months and I'll have been away from my parents longer than I'll have been with them."

"That's… really sad, man," Roy said.

Wally snorted, "Yeah, I guess so. Just feels like life." Robin was still watching him with tragic eyes.

Kaldur gave him a small smile, "Well, you are always welcome here, my friend. If your parents do not accept you for who you are or if you are uncomfortable with them, then we are willing to welcome you into our home. You know that Conner, M'gann, and Zatanna all live in our headquarters. I am sure that Conner would appreciate another male staying with them."

Wally laughed again, leaning his head back, "Well, he'd probably get two. Pretty sure no matter what happens, wherever I go, Cameron will go. I mean, his dad's still in jail anyways, so he doesn't really have a legal guardian."

"He's in jail?" Roy asked curiously.

Wally nodded, "Yeah, Belle Reeve, I think? That's how Cam was caught. The first wave of people put in the camps were either criminals who were caught or the children of criminals who were caught. He was the latter."

"I'm sorry, did you just say that Cameron's dad is in Belle Reeve?" Robin asked incredulously.

Raising an eyebrow, Wally responded, "Yeah? Joar Mahkent? The supervillain called Icicle or whatever?"

Roy choked a little bit, "Cameron's dad is _Icicle_?"

At the same time, Robin cackled, "He took the same name as his father!"

Amused by their responses, Wally explained, "His father is the reason that Cam's a metahuman in the first place. That ice stuff that Mahkent uses for his crimes or whatever? Long term exposure in a developing child led to his genes changing to become, well, Icicle. Made him go almost albino and stuff, too. I think Mahkent is serving some child endangerment sentence because of that. And I think he wanted to take the name and make it better. That's why he uses that same name as his father."

"He really got his powers just by being exposed to whatever weird stuff his dad came up with?" Roy scoffed.

Wally smirked, "What can you do? Some of us get our powers in weird ways."

"How'd you end up with yours?" Robin asked, giving him a look reminiscent of an excited child wanting to know what happened next in their favourite story.

Faltering a little bit as the topic shifted somehow back to him, Wally haltingly explained, "Uh, well, there was a kid at school who ended up being a meta. His powers manifested in the middle of the schoolyard. Some older kids were picking on him – Josh, his name was – and he freaked out and accidently struck one with lightning. He seemed to be able to control the weather which was pretty legit. But I ended up going back to a teacher's room. The science teacher's room, I think. We got to talking about metahumans a little bit. Which was weird, now that I think about it. That was still when they were trying to keep a lot of the metahuman stuff under wraps and away from children. I guess I should just be glad that he thought I could handle it. Then one of Josh's lightning bolts flew through the window, struck me, and threw me into the chemical cabinet, dousing me in the chemicals as I was electrocuted. Not the most thrilling way to get your powers. Strangely enough, though, the same way Barry got his. He was in his lab at the police station when the same thing happened."

"What are the odds of that?" Kaldur asked, leaning forward on his bed, all traces of tears faded by that point in the conversation. That was something good at least. Thank goodness the other two showed up when they did.

Wally smiled, "Not very high, honestly."

"So, did you go to the camps with this Josh kid?" Robin asked.

"Nah, I went to the hospital first. I was in a mini coma. I woke up around the same time they got the test results showing that I'd become a meta. That's when they put me on the bus. I think Cameron and I were the only kids on that bus. And Josh must have ended up in one of the other barracks because he wasn't in mine and I don't really remember seeing him around. I didn't really look for him all that hard, though. I guess I never thought to," Wally shrugged.

"Huh," Roy said, expression endlessly fascinated.

Wally was about to say more, but a voice from his comms interrupted him, " _Hey, you want to come down to Gar's room? Him and Harold are having a freak out and me and Hal don't entirely know what to do_."

He responded back, "Be there in a sec, Cam." He turned to the others, "Sorry, I've got to deal with this."

"Don't worry about it. Go ahead and go!" Robin said.

Kaldur gave him a worried look, "Do you need me to do anything?"

Wally smiled at him, "Nah, man. Just hang out with these two. I'll hold the fort today. You deserve a little bit of a break." Kaldur gave him a wan smile in return.

Finally being given an exit path (and being surprised at the fact that, for a while there, he hadn't even wanted one), Wally raced out of the room, bolting through the hallways towards the Circus's quarters. He stopped at Gar's room, skidding a little bit and being forced to backtrack a couple feet in order to actually make it into the room.

His heart plummeted at the sight he walked in to. Harold was full-on sobbing, arms wrapped around his head and knees tucked to his chest, electricity arcing up and down his body, preventing the hovering Hal from comforting his cousin. Garfield had changed himself into the form of a tiny, green spider and had tucked himself into a shaking little ball in the corner of the ceiling.

Cameron stared at him, eyes wide and skin frosting over just slightly in distress, "I don't know what's going on."

"Do we know what triggered this?" Wally asked. He walked over to grab the desk chair, rolling it over towards where Garfield was curled up.

"Not for certain?" Cameron hedged.

Sending him a _look_ even as he motioned for Cameron to hold the chair steady, Wally probed, "What do you _think_ triggered this?"

Biting his lip, Cameron shrugged, "I mean, we ran into those Collection Agents. That, uh, wasn't the greatest."

"You _what_?" Wally barely avoided screeching as he carefully climbed onto the chair and quickly scooped Garfield up. He paused his conversation with Cameron for a moment to gently speak to Garfield, "Hey, buddy, can you shift into something a little bigger? I've still got you, but I don't want to accidentally squish you, alright?" There was a pause before the spider in his hands shifted into a small green kitten. The kitten crawled up his chest, kneading briefly at his shoulder before settling there. Wally was forced to quickly settle a hand under the kitten's butt as it started to slide down his shoulder. Garfield mewed piteously before crawling back down Wally's chest, forcing him to cradle the kitten as he made his own little bed out of Wally's arms. It was only seconds before Garfield fell asleep there.

Turning back to Cameron, he repeated sharply, "You _what_?"

"No one told you?" Cameron blinked curiously.

Glaring, Wally retorted, "They were probably expecting _you_ to tell me!" Cameron winced. Sighing, Wally turned his attention back to Harold. He settled his arm over Harold's shoulder, ignoring the first initial bursts of electricity. If you just ignored it for a minute or so, Harold's body automatically lowers the charge of it. It certainly hurt for that minute, but it was worth it to make Harold feel better. Besides, Wally had had worse before.

As soon as the push of electricity against his skin lessened, Wally swept Harold into a bigger hug, pulling him as tightly against his skin as he could without interrupting Garfield's sleeping form.

He continued to cradle Harold against him until the younger teen stopped crying, falling into his own fitful sleep. Carefully, Wally extracted himself from Harold's hold, picking him up in one arm and transferring him to his cousin, "Usually when he wakes up from this kind of crying, he's got a headache and he's pretty thirsty, so you should probably be prepared for that. Make sure he knows that he's safe and that you are _not_ going to let the Collection Agency ever touch him again. He's going to be worried, so I recommend sparring with him. Do some light exercises, practice some moves. Do something productive that makes him feel like he's doing something to prepare should the Collection Agency every try to get him again. Also, get him out of Gar's room and back to his own or yours or whatever. Anything to make him more comfortable."

He swept out of the room after that, Cameron trailing after him. When he made it to Kelvin's room, he knocked quietly. Kelvin opened the door slowly, obviously having already gone to bed. He squinted at them, hair ruffled from sleep, "What's up?"

"Gar's having a bad night. He's asleep now and he should be for a while. Can you keep an eye on him? Call me if he's really distressed when he wakes up. I'll be there if you need me," Wally said, lightly thrusting the sleeping kitten into Kelvin's arms.

The man easily collected Garfield's kitten form, cradling him as Garfield let out another pitiful meow before settling back into sleep. He looked back at Wally, "Anyone else I need to worry about?"

"Hal's got Harold, so we'll see how that one goes. I've got Cam, so you shouldn't have to worry about anyone else," Wally answered, ignoring Cameron squawking indignantly behind him. Kelvin gave him a wan, sleepy smile before gently closing his door, bringing Garfield fully into his room.

Wally dragged Cameron back to Cam's room, stalking ahead of him easily. He waited until the door was closed behind them to fully attack. Wally yanked Cameron into a hug, holding him as tightly as possible. For a second, Cameron froze against him (literally – frost coating over the floor and Wally's clothes) before he melted into the touch, bringing his own arms up to wrap around Wally's midsection.

Cameron closed his eyes and settled into the hug, letting out one small hitching breath. Wally swallowed against the tears threatening to fall, "I can't believe I almost lost you."

Cameron jerked in his hold, "You didn't almost lose us, Walls. We can take care of ourselves. We're not scared little kids. We've got training and backup now. There was no way that Collection Agency could get us."

"The Agency got the Titans and they're more well-trained than us. They have more members than we do. They lived in a veritable fortress," Wally argued, heart racing at the idea that members of his team had fought the Collection Agency and he hadn't been there to protect them.

Cameron sighed against him, "You can't protect us from everything, Wally. I know you're our leader and our saviour, but you can't protect us from everything. And that's not such a bad thing, you know. Things like this? We need to face those fears. On our own. I needed to know that I could be faced with a Collection Agent and be able to hold my ground, be able to protect my family. And I did. We made it. We took them down _easily_. I know Gar and Harold are freaked and, yeah, so am I, but truthfully? It was worth it."

"Doesn't mean I can't be scared," Wally grumbled, heartrate slowing back down at Cameron's words. Maybe he couldn't protect them from everything. It couldn't stop him from trying, though.

He sighed as the thought reminded him of the conversation he'd been having with the three heroes earlier. Where would they all go when (if) this was all over? Would they separate? Kelvin had his parents and his little sister to go home to. Lorraine had her father. Harold would be able to stay with Hal, maybe find his parents (recently, Harold and Hal had, together, come up with the idea that maybe Harold's parents were metas too and they'd been taken by the Collection Agency; the horrible record-keeping at the camps made it impossible to test that theory). Garfield said that Mentos (who was leading the Doom Patrol at the moment) would, legally, have to take him in, but he never sounded particularly thrilled by the idea. It seemed like Dinah would settle in somewhere in Star City to be closer to Oliver. The two lovebirds had only gotten closer in the weeks following the battle at the Watchtower.

But the rest of them? Wally, Cameron, and Jinx. Where would they go? Jinx had no one out there and Cameron's only person was in jail. Would Wally's family be willing to take the other two in? Would the other two live at the headquarters?

The thought of not living with the rest of the Circus broke Wally's heart. The month he'd spent as a prisoner of the Team had been _agonising_ to him. He'd been constantly wondering where his team was, how they were doing. Were they eating enough?

Some days, Wally wished they could just move to Holo City at the end of all of this. Would that be so bad? They'd certainly be happy there. Well, Kelvin still had his family, but he'd lived on his own anyways. Maybe Wally could convince the Justice League to install a zeta tube in Holo City, one that the metahumans could use to get home. Or he'd just keep the job where teleporters could earn favours by bringing people to certain places. If Harold's parents were metas, then they could move to Holo City, too. Hal could come visit sometimes. It wasn't like he'd spend all of his time with them anyways. They could all stay together.

But even as he thought it, Wally knew how impractical it was. It wasn't right to need to cling to the others this much. He knew it was a bad thing, that the separation anxiety that itched under his skin every time he was away from his team was a sign of deeper issues. He _knew_ that. He just didn't know how to fix it. Probably some form a therapy, he admitted to himself wryly. They all probably needed some sort of therapy.

It just… Wally had spent so many years of his lift watching the people around him die that the thought of anyone else he cared about leaving was… an insurmountable fear. He couldn't handle anyone else dying. He just couldn't. It would break him. More than the camps did, more than living this life did, more than that memory coma did, more than the Light did. Losing someone else would _break_ him.

In the end, when Cameron finally broke down, heart breaking whimper by heart breaking whimper, all Wally could do was hold him close.

VVVVVV

Vandal growled at the notes in front of him. How could this be possible? What had he missed? Where was the Circus getting this much support from? He'd assumed that the other group – the Alliance – would have some connections, but not this many. This was ridiculous!

Disgusted, Vandal tossed the notes back onto the table. Public favour was swinging in the wrong direction too quickly, too efficiently for him to block it. It was too soon for this to be happening, far too soon. There were still arrangements that needed to be made. His communication with the Reach had only just started. He hadn't gotten nearly far enough in the negotiations to initiate the next stage of his plan. Besides, Luthor was still in jail and wouldn't be able to completely orchestrate the machinations necessary to fully utilize the Reach.

He'd have to change his plans. He'd have to completely alter them. Rubbing his forehead briefly in consternation, Vandal tried to calm down. This was what they were planning. The _heroes_ were trying to make him angry enough to make a mistake. He was too old for that, however. Too powerful, too _smart_.

Their little _trick_ wasn't going to work. He had more allies, more power, and more intelligence on his side. His plan _would_ work. He would make sure of it.

 **Author's Note: By the way! Remember Josh? I mentioned him in, like, the prologue and this chapter. Whoever can correctly guess his father first gets the next chapter dedicated to them! Thanks, as always, for reading!**


	50. Chapter 50

**Author's Note: So much support this last chapter! Thank you guys so much! Sorry this is coming out so late this weekend – I just haven't had the emotional wherewithal to write a chapter, haha. We're good now, though. Also, I'mma be real, as I was reading through the last chapter, there were large portions of it that I didn't remember writing, so that was confusing when I was trying to write this chapter. THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO Js WHO GUESSED THAT JOSH'S DAD WAS WEATHER WIZARD! Despite the fact that they have the same powers and I asked this question after introducing Weather Wizard, I honestly believed that more people would have trouble guessing this, but I was wrong. A lot of you guessed right. But, Js guessed it correctly first! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Js – You got it! This chapter is dedicated to you, congrats! Haha, I like to really overcomplicate things in my head, so I've definitely thought out the various problems that could come from abolishing the camps. So many problems. Anyways, thanks for the review!**

 **HI – Great guess because you're right, haha. Mark Mardon is Josh's father. Thanks for the review!**

 **Candle – Yep! That's correct! Weather Wizard is Josh's father. Good job! Haha, that's my issue with the new keyboard. One of the letters I had completely worn down was the 'e.' Don't know how I managed to hit the 't' instead, though, because that's two away from 'e.' Eh, good try on my part. Thanks for pointing it out! And thank you for the review!**

 **Jacqui – Aw, you're so sweet! Don't worry, I'll definitely conclude this story. I probably won't make a sequel, but I'll just finish this out, no matter how many chapters it'll take (and it's taking way more than I thought it would). Thank you so much for the review!**

 **Cat – Yep! You got it! Unfortunately, you weren't the first, but thanks for participating! Thanks for the review too!**

BBBBBB

Bruce had been surprised at how quickly Dick got James Houston's name. It wasn't that he doubted his ward's skill, it was that he was sure that the Light would have made it more difficult to find the killer. Surely Savage hadn't fallen _that_ far off his game. When Dick called in later, explaining that they figured Savage made Houston easier to find so they'd lose JP and LL's funding, the reasoning was easier to understand. Still, it wasn't the complex level of misdirect and hidden motives that Savage had been employing before. Something was missing here…

Barry's bright voice broke into his musings, "Hey Bats! Are you going to interrogate that guy they brought in, or is someone else?"

"Are you offering?" Bruce growled.

Barry wrinkled his nose, "Nah, I don't think I could do it. I'm not really the interrogating type. I've been told I'm too nice." He was painfully cheerful despite the fact that he was admitting to a weakness. Bruce resisted the urge to role his eyes.

Unfortunately, Barry kept walking with him, so Bruce felt obligated to answer his question, "Clark is interrogating Houston. I will observe. I won't interfere unless it's decided that my input is needed."

"Nice cop, bad cop kind of thing. Got it," Barry commented, smiling easily.

Bruce eyed him slightly, "Will you be observing as well?"

"Yep!" Barry answered immediately before his expression dropped slightly, "Uh, if that's okay? I should have asked, sorry! I just, uh, thought that maybe a different point of view might be appreciated! Except, honestly, I just wanted to see how you guys worked. Not for any nefarious reasons! Just because, you know, you're interesting. You're superheroes! I had always dreamt of being a hero when I was younger. Really messed that one up, huh? I'm an international criminal now. But still, heroes are awesome! And that's the only reason I'm going to – I _want to_ watch. Can I watch?"

Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the speed and genuine emotions in the man's voice, Bruce could only nod mutely. Barry grinned brilliantly at him and kept walking forward, an extra bounce in his step. Bruce could _not_ understand how he and Supersonic were related. The two were almost polar opposites.

Then again, he mused, there was that incident the other day where the two of them had run back from the Titans Tower and they'd been laughing, doubled over and red-cheeked with the force of it. Bruce hadn't known that Wally was _capable_ of that level of levity. Everything he'd witnessed of the teenager had shown him a broken person who would fake it until he made it. But that didn't seem to be the truth at all. Certainly, the stories that Dick had told of Wally's occasional exploits and anecdotes had shown a different truth. Kaldur's own easy acceptance and friendship with the leader of the Circus was especially telling.

Kaldur was not the kind to quickly trust people. He held them at a formal length, maintaining a countenance of extreme politeness. It was somewhat of a test to see if people were willing to look past the stone mask he wore through the beginning of friendships. Some people knew him while he was still forming the mask and were able to slip in through the cracks while others, like Dick and Roy (Bruce _seethed_ with the knowledge that the real Roy was out there, probably hurting and alone because Bruce had failed to notice he'd been _replaced by a clone_ ) blew completely past the mask with their respective bright and brash personalities.

Wally, however, had to slowly ease the mask from Kaldur in order to gain the friendship he had. Bruce could respect someone who had the patience for something like that. It was something that the other Team members were still working on from what Bruce had seen.

In the end, Bruce hoped that Wally could become something of a regular fixture in his son's life. He knew that Dick was increasingly delighted with each friendly moment he managed to get out of the teenaged speedster. Seeing his son that happy made Bruce happy as well.

But Bruce knew it wasn't going to be that easy. Dick had filled him in on some of the _very_ valid points Wally had brought up in regards to the camps being abolished. It wasn't going to be an easy or clean process. There was going to be a lot of heartbreak, a lot of anger, a lot of mistrust towards the government. People were going to be hurt. And if there was one thing that Bruce was certain about when it came to Wally, it was that the young leader was going to put himself in the thick of the issues. He would think it was his duty, his responsibility.

Shaking his head, Bruce brought himself back into the present. He interrupted whatever Barry had been blathering on about, "Does the Alliance have any plans to manage the fallout from abolishing camps?"

Startled, Barry blinked at him for a moment before he pulled himself together well enough to answer, "Not on as large of a scale as it needs to be. We've been working other countries, easing some of the harsher places and working on fully freeing the countries that already have lighter laws. If you placed all the countries from nicest to metas to worst to metas, America would be about in the middle, leaning towards the worst side. We've been working from the outside in, aiming for both extremes so we can ease the middle countries into a simple acceptance. I mean, I'll talk to the American branch of the Alliance and see if they have more detailed plans that they've been working on. I might be the leader, but I don't know _everything_." He finished with a wry smile.

Bruce frowned, not entirely pleased with the response. He'd hoped that they had more in place. This was something they should have been thinking about from the beginning. There was no helping it now. And it really wasn't that surprising that the Circus hadn't thought to bring it up. They were desperately busy, and Bruce wasn't convinced that they believed the camps really were going to be abolished.

Barry looked at him curiously, "It's good of you to put this much interest into this."

"Why wouldn't I?" Bruce asked sharply, slightly wishing he'd just gone on ignoring everything the blonde was saying.

Raising his hands in supplication, Barry apologized, "Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean it like that! It's just… we've all been on our own for nine years now. It's… it's nice to get a new group – two, actually – to join up. Having this kind of fresh blood, this genuine caring and interest. It's nice."

"I am _not_ 'genuinely caring,'" Bruce growled, "I am maintaining justice."

Barry flapped his hand in front of his face, making a small ' _pshaw_ ' noise, "Oh please. I know you're just a cute, cuddly Bat under all those knives."

Bruce gave him his best death glare and Barry's face paled, leaving him with just enough energy to let out a small 'eep.' Bruce's glare intensified.

Clark's voice interrupted the stare down, "C'mon, Batman, don't glare at new guys like that. We want them to like us." His voice was warm and relaxed, despite the angry man spitting profanities and slamming against the chair he was chained to in the background.

Barry moved closer. He got to within a foot of the window before he winced and backed away quickly. Clark stepped closer to him, voice lit with concern, hand hovering over Barry's shoulder, "Are you alright?"

Barry's voice was tense when he said, "I wasn't aware this guy was a meta."

"He's not, to our knowledge," Clark said, sending Bruce a confused glance.

Barry raised an eyebrow, "Then what's with the anti-meta field around the cell?"

Clark winced slightly, looking to Bruce for support again. When he didn't get any, he sighed and said, "That's standard here. All prison cells have an anti-meta field around them."

"That's inefficient," A new voice interjected. The group turned to see Harold and Hal floating down the hallway towards them. Harold was wearing his suit, mask up which was strange. Most of the metas had been going sans mask after revealing their identities. Hal was hovering behind him, trying not to be obvious about the way he was clearly distressed about something.

Ignoring the tension between the two cousins, Bruce asked, "What's inefficient?"

Harold nodded towards the prison cell, "You shouldn't just have an anti-meta shield around the room. All they have to do is leave the room and they're free and clear. In Holo City's rehabilitation center, each cell has the inhibitor shield and then there's one that covers the whole building and then one that covers the surrounding area. Whenever residents are being moved or interrogated, they also have inhibitor cuffs on. And when they're being interrogated, one of the guards is always there because her ability is to nullify other metahuman abilities."

"That sounds like a little too much security," Barry said dubiously, eyebrows raised judgingly. Bruce on the other hand, was actually rather impressed by the level of security put into place.

Harold shrugged easily, "I mean, people only end up in the rehabilitation center if they were shown to actively be harming someone. They only stay in there as long as it takes to reassure them that they're safe and don't need to hurt people anymore."

"And what if that moment never comes?" Clark asked curiously.

Shrugging again, Harold said cryptically, "There are places run by other groups for people like that."

Clark sighed, "We haven't even scratched the surface of the metahuman world, have we?"

"You've gotten a lot further than most," Barry reassured him, "Most people don't know the Alliance existed. Even the Circus didn't and they're one of the big names in this business."

"Business," Hal repeated dubiously.

Barry rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean."

Hal's eyes lit up and he waggled his eyebrows, "Ah, I see. _That_ kind of business."

Instantly, Barry's cheeks lit up red and he pressed his hands to his cheeks, scandalized, "Hal! There are children here! Oh my – I can't believe you just said that!"

"What?" Hal asked, eyes widened as if that would show his supposed innocence better, "I just said business. You're the one reading too far into that. Get your mind out of the gutter, Barry!" Bruce watched the interaction curiously. Had the two of them gotten closer than Bruce had been led to believe? It intrigued Bruce to see the metahumans fitting seamlessly into friend groups and teams during this strange alliance. In fact, as much as the man talked too much and seemed entirely too innocent for the leader of such a large and successful organization, Barry would be a good fit in the Justice League.

Another loud bang from the cell brings Bruce away from the plans whirring to life in his mind. He sends a sharp look to Harold, "Why are you here?" In the background, Clark sighed in disappointment.

Harold, however, merely quirked an eyebrow at him, jaw set out at a jaunty angle, "Wally sent me to watch the interrogation. He wanted to make sure he could get the information without inconveniencing any of you guys." Harold was bolder than usual, some irritant adding an extra layer of confidence to his words and stance.

"Why isn't he here himself?" Bruce asked, suspicious (he studiously ignored Clark letting out an even louder sigh; he was used to it). Wally was very much the kind of person who would usually come to an interrogation like this himself.

Mouth twitching towards an even deeper frown, Harold answered shortly, "He had other business to attend to." Bruce's own lips tipped down towards an even darker scowl, but Hal was frantically shaking his head behind Harold and even Bruce had enough tack to know that this was a line of questioning that could be delayed until later. Bruce nodded quickly in response.

Clark clapped his hands together to try to dispel some of the tension that had fallen over the little group, "Then let's get this started. I'll go ahead and get in there." No one responded and Clark let out an awkward little chuckled before he slipped into the room, the awkwardness slipping away now that he was facing a criminal.

He started by standing up straight, crossing his arms over his chest, and giving Houston his quintessential 'disappointed do-gooder' expression. Houston faltered immediately, his rage lessening and a glimpse of shame flitting across his features. Clark's face had that ability.

Clark asked, voice thick with disappointment, "Why did you kill Loren Jupiter?"

For a moment, it looked like just the look with the disappointed tone was going to be enough to break Houston (it wouldn't be the first time), but then the man rallied himself, "I want my lawyer."

Clark's following disappointed sigh had Houston flinching. He asked seriously, "Is that really what you want?"

Houston's lips tilted, trembled, _broke_ , "It wasn't my fault! I was threatened!"

Back in the viewing room outside the cell, Barry raised an eyebrow, "This doesn't feel entirely legal."

"Superman is legally allowed to arrest people and interrogate them and stuff," Harold answered before Bruce could. Bruce gave him a suspicious look. Shoulders hunching in self-consciously, Harold said, "What? You think we didn't know our enemies?" Behind him, Hal flinched. Wincing a little bit, Harold lifted an arm towards Hal, aborting the movement halfway through, "Not, not that we think of you that way now! Obviously! Just that, you know, you guys were hunting us for a while. Although, luckily we didn't run into any of you. Except that time when Wally and Garfield ran into Martian Manhunter, but he let them go, so it was alright."

Bruce blinked. When J'onn did _what_? He didn't remember ever hearing about that. He'd have to ask the man at some point. Conversation from the other room stopped him from asking further details at that moment.

"Who threatened you?" Clark asked softly, instantly switching to the concerned protector he was known as so fondly.

Houston swallowed, the sound loud in the otherwise quiet room, "Prime Minister Tseng Dangun."

The silence turned charged as the name was dropped. Clark hid his surprise well, only raising a confused eyebrow and asking for clarification, "Why would the Prime Minister of South Rhelasia want you to kill Loren Jupiter? When did the Prime Minister Tseng even come into contact with Jupiter to want him killed?" Bruce leaned forward, eager for the answer.

Unfortunately, Houston only shrugged miserably, "When the Prime Minister, leader, essentially, of one of your main customers tells you they want someone killed, you kill someone. He gave me the plan and the means. I just did what he asked me to."

"You have no clue what relation the Prime Minister serves to all of this?" Clark asked incredulously. Bruce was suspicious as well. How likely was it that Houston would just do this, not bothering to ask any questions? Not likely at all.

Houston hesitated. There was a split second of indecision before the nervous anxiousness melted away into a sleazy smile, "How much is that information worth?"

And that was all Bruce could take. Darkness oozing out of his very being, even in the bright, sterile lights of the room, Batman stalked into the cell, voice rougher than gravel, "How about your life?"

The way Houston's face lost all color amused Bruce, but didn't let that on as he continued to stalk forward. Houston rapidly backpedaled on his position, frantically saying, "I'll tell you! I'll tell you! Honest! I really, honestly don't know much! Really! I just, uh, I know that the Prime Minister wasn't acting like himself. He hasn't been for a couple weeks, honestly. But I just chalked that up to the rumors floating around that he's going to be given the position of Secretary General of the United Nations as soon as his term's up. That's gotta be a weird shift, you know? I thought that was all it was, but then he came to me with this plan. And he said that I had to be the one to kill Loren because the man's security was too good to get anyone else in."

Bruce's eyes narrowed, "Why was the tower empty on the day you came to see him?"

"Don't know. He seemed really spooked when I went to see him, more paranoid than usual. The only other time I saw him shut down that tower of his was when there was that meta gunning after him a few years ago. I don't know what became of that either," Houston said, breath starting to even out.

"Anything else?" Clark asked helpfully from where he was leaning against a wall, doing his best to interject brightness into his tone.

Houston licked his lips, admitting, "You know that Mercy chick that Lex Luthor's always got hovering behind him? Prime Minister Tseng's got a chick that looks just like her now. I don't know if that has anything to do with what's going on."

Bruce didn't bother with farewells, simply swirling around and stalking out of the room. Clark followed a moment later, leaving the camera on to record but turning off the volume from the cell to the hallway outside.

Barry was giving him an incredulous look, "Are you just naturally that scary or did you have to practice?"

Hal leaned over and stage whispered, "I have definitely seen him practice the cloak swirling thing." The two of them looked at each other and giggled. Juveniles.

Harold asked a much more pertinent question, "How did Tseng end up with one of Luthor's weapon maid things?"

Hal sobered up in order to answer that question, "Luthor attended and then 'saved' a peace conference between North and South Rhelasia. Cheshire attacked in the middle and Red Arrow and Aqualad stopped her, but the credit went to Luthor. He's got really good deals with the two countries now."

"You think he purposefully brought Cheshire in to make himself look like the hero so he could get in close with the two leaders so he could do something like this?" Barry asked incredulously, "That seems a little far-fetched. I know that Savage is a _very_ forward thinker and seems to know everyone's next fifty moves, but that's a little crazy. If Savage had gotten his way, he would have already achieved what he wanted by now and there wouldn't have been any need for any of this craziness. How could he have already had something in place that allowed him to use Tseng like this?"

"This could be a backup plan?" Harold theorized.

"No," Bruce said, narrowing his eyes in thought, "The attack on the Watchtower and the control of the Justice League members wasn't the endgame. It was a step towards the endgame. Otherwise, we'd know where we went when a group of us disappeared. No one's supposed to know about that until later. That implies that there's still more steps to this plan. Which means that Tseng was likely meant to be used for something else, but Savage had to deploy him early. The question is whether he's working with the Light willingly or not."

Barry's mouth opened into an 'o' shape, "You think Savage used the Starro-tech on more than just the heroes."

"I doubt that," Harold interjected, "They had limited time and limited resources to make the tech. I don't think they could have made more than what was needed to deal with the Justice League."

"Even just one more could account for the change in Prime Minister Tseng," Clark pointed out, leaning his hip against a wall again, mouth pulled down into a thoughtful frown.

Bruce scowled, "Or something else could. We'll keep the idea in mind, but we'll also look into other possibilities."

"He could have been in with the Light the whole time and his behavior could have changed because the Light lost a lot of battles. Or his behavior could have genuinely just changed because he might end up being the next Secretary General of the UN. Was he the kind of person who'd fall for all this Light nonsense?" Barry offered, a hand rubbing at the back of his neck. Bruce's heart melted (not that he'd admit it) at the sight; Wally did the exact same thing.

Hal brushed a frustrated hand through his own hair, "Are we any closer to actually finding Savage? He's the linchpin to this whole thing. I'm sure if we just get him, everything else will fall apart."

"And we'll be left to deal with picking up the pieces of his plans," Clark sighed. He straightened, "Are we ready to hand him over to actual police custody?"

Harold narrowed his eyes, "I've got a couple questions to ask him. JP doesn't want to know why he would do this to their family, but I do." Before anyone could protest a minor going to interrogate Houston, Harold had already disappeared into the room, a layer of sparks falling off his skin as he stepped into the power inhibitor zone.

Clark sighed, "I don't know the first thing about taking care of teenagers, but I am starting to understand that their stubbornness is _not_ to be underestimated."

"Amen," Barry replied, a surprising amount of feeling coloring the words. Clark shot him a surprised look before it turned to one of understanding.

Clark patted Barry's shoulder before saying, "I should probably head in there. Make sure no one gets hurt."

"Mind if I come in?" Barry asked, "I might have a question or two for him."

"Sure, if you're fine with how crowded it'll be," Clark answered.

Barry wrinkled his nose, "Eh, worth it." Clark laughed, guiding Barry into the room, pausing briefly for Barry to adjust to the feeling of being without powers.

Bruce graciously waited until the other two were out of hearing (even Clark's super hearing wouldn't be able to hear through the soundproofing on the cell walls) before moving in for his interrogation, "What happened between you and Harold?"

Hal's hackles immediately rose, "Nothing happened. Cut the paranoia, Bats." Bruce didn't rise to the bait, instead just staring evenly at Hal until he finally broke, "I'm not going to give you all the deets or whatever, but Harold, uh, had a, a panic attack, basically. I had no idea what to do. I didn't know how to calm him down at all. Cameron was busy trying to comfort Garfield who'd also had an attack so I was the only one who could deal with Harold and all I ended up being able to do was watch. He had this layer of electricity racing all over his skin and I couldn't get close enough. It just… he was such a happy kid that I never really had to deal with comforting him. I mean, not for something this intense. Sure, he'd cry sometimes or whatever – what kid doesn't? – but it was nothing like this. And then Wally comes in and Harold's calmed down enough to sleep in, like, point two seconds. And that was after Wally successfully calmed down Garfield. Then he told me exactly what I needed to do to make Harold feel better when he woke up." Hal trailed off, looking into the distance.

Bruce swallowed. He had _not_ meant to accidentally wander into an emotional conversation. Still, he'd brought this upon himself. The least he could do was _try_ to help. Taking the moment to really turn the problem over in his mind, he summarized out loud, "You're upset because Wally knew how to calm down your cousin and you didn't."

Hal leaned his head back against the wall, his suit throwing a green glow against the contours of his face, "I know it's dumb to be upset at Wally for it, but I can't help it. And that just makes me even more mad about the entire situation. I mean, it's good that _someone_ knew how to help him. I just… I've known Harold for longer than Wally has. A lot longer. And, apparently, they didn't even talk all that much in the camps. Apparently, the only reason Wally grabbed any of the others beside Cameron was because they were nearby. Harold wasn't rescued because Wally thought he was awesome and had bonded with the kid and couldn't imagine escaping without him. Harold was rescued because he was working on building the same barracks as Cameron. And yet, Wally can comfort him when I can't."

"You said it yourself," Bruce pointed out, "Harold didn't used to have panic attacks when you knew him. There was no way you would have known how to deal with that. At the moment, Wally has a lot in common with him in this kind of situation."

"I know that," Hal protested, "I do. It's just… I feel selfish. This is stupid."

"This," Bruce stressed, gesturing towards the cell where Harold was, "is getting in the way of your relationship. And ignoring it is only going to make the situation worse."

Hal swore, quiet but vicious, "What am I supposed to do? Tell him that I feel jealous of the Circus even though he's made it abundantly clear to me that I'm family and that I'm completely important to him, even though we've talked about him moving in with me until we find his parents? I can't just unload that onto him! He's just a kid!"

Sighing, Bruce admitted, "That's what I said about Dick. He wanted nothing to do with me when I tried acting fatherly. He was fine with our Batman - Robin relationship and he could handle the public guardian and ward visage. But when I tried to do something his parents would have done, he would get mad. I didn't know how to tell him that I wasn't trying to replace his father, that I was just trying to give him another chance. That I was trying to make sure he knew that he still had people who loved him very much. I thought he was too young for me to try to explain these feelings to. And I don't know how to works in normal situations, how people decide how young is too young, but for us it's different. There's no more too young with us. Harold isn't a kid anymore. Maybe he'll get a chance to pretend when we take down the Light and abolish the camps, but he's not a kid. He lost that the moment the Collection Agency got him. Honestly, probably before that, when he was searching for his parents. Tell him the truth. That's all our kids want at this point."

Hal closed his eyes, looking seconds away from just sinking to the floor, "Why does this have to happen to kids?"

Bruce closed his own eyes against memories of a dark alleyway and blood spattering against the grimy walls, pearls falling one by one on the ground like an angel's teardrops. He opened them again, "We're here so it stops happening to kids."

"Then why couldn't we protect our own?" Hal asked, miserable in a way Bruce hadn't seen before, in a way Hal had never let himself be seen before.

Bruce swallowed against the pain in Hal's voice (against the pain in his own heart when he remembered the heartbreaking scream when two acrobats fell to their death), "We can't save everyone."

"Then what's the point?" Hal sighed.

"You might not be able to save everyone but saving even one person is enough to make up for that. Every person you save is someone's world you've just saved," Barry said, sliding back into the room.

Hal jerked his eyes open, flicking them towards the window where Harold was still talking to Houston, "Did he…"

"You know me," Barry joked weakly, "I'm too fast for them to have heard anything."

Shaking his head, Hal sighed again, settling back against the wall. Barry put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "I'm being serious, Hal. You might not have been able to save Harold from what he went through, but that was hardly your fault. You've saved a lot of people. And besides, you're doing all you can for Harold."

Hal laughed darkly at the unintentional reminder of the beginning of the conversation, "Apparently not. Wally can help him ten times better than I ever could."

Barry gave his own little bitter laugh, "Trust me when I say I know that feeling. When I asked Wally if he wanted to have a family dinner with me and Iris, he looked so panicked that I regretted asking. His eyes got so wide and I swear his heart stopped for a moment. The first thing he said was, 'Can I bring Cameron?' I tried so hard to not look like my heart was breaking. The worst part about it all was that he looked so mortified afterwards. He obviously _wants_ to treat us like a family, but he just… can't. Not yet. The Circus… went through something we can't even imagine. Even those kids who went into Wally's mindscape can't imagine what the Circus went through. Those camps… I don't even want to imagine Wally anywhere near them. They went straight from those close quarters at the camps where they were each other's only comfort to living with just them in a house together. It's understandable that they built their coping mechanisms around each other. It's understandable that they built _themselves_ around each other. Going into a camp like that… you don't come out the same person. And I'm sure they had to take a moment to reinvent themselves."

Hal opened his mouth to say something else. His expression looked noticeably brighter than before, but that wasn't saying much. Bruce wasn't sure if he was going to bring up another argument or an agreement. He never got to find out.

Before Hal could even form the first word, there was a horrific _boom_ and the cell next to them _exploded_.

 **Author's Note: I know you guys missed my cliffhangers last chapter, so I figured I'd give you one this time :P As always, thanks for reading!**


	51. Chapter 51

**Author's Note: Here we are with another chapter! I'm going to try to add some action in here, but we'll see what happens. I honestly can't even remember what happened in the last chapter, so I'm going to go back and read that before I start writing, haha. Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – Haha, writing cliff hangers gives my evil side life :P Thanks for the wonderful review!**

 **HI – Thanks for the amazing review as always!**

BBBBBB

Barry reacted as quickly as he could, whipping Batman and Hal away from the blast zone (hopefully) before it could cause them any damage. He could only pray that Clark had done the same for Harold, or at least shielded the kid with his super strong alien body.

Still, when the ringing in his ears stopped, Barry felt the warm slide of blood down one cheek and could see some on the glove of the hand that had been holding Hal. He called into the silence, "Hal? Batman? Clark? Harold?" He heard a faint groaning coming from a couple feet to his right. Blinking through the smoke that was permeating even this far into the hallway, Barry moved forward, calling out hesitantly, "Hal?" when he saw a flash of red-smudged green.

The green blob shifted and groaned, sitting up to reveal a groggy, but relatively uninjured, Hal. Barry breathed out a sigh of relief, patting Hal lightly on the shoulder before heading for the black blob he saw out of the corner of his eye. He'd gotten maybe three steps away from the black blob before Batman was sitting straight up, alert and _angry_ in a way that Barry had never, ever wanted to see.

Batman moved gracefully to his feet, stalking back towards the cell, batarang clutched furiously in his hand. Barry followed timidly behind him. They were almost on the cell when Clark rose out of the smoke, carrying a limp Harold in his arms. Barry moved forward to check his pulse, breathing out a huge sigh of relief at the steady beat under his fingertips (and immediately coughing on that sigh because, you know, _smoke_ ).

Clark peered worriedly over at Hal (who was still sitting on the floor, clutching his head), but didn't get a chance to ask anything before Batman was demanding, "Tell me what happened."

Already shaking his head, Clark sighed, "I don't know, Batman, I'm sorry. One moment we were talking to him and the next moment there was an explosion. It didn't seem like anything he set off, but… I don't know."

Growling, Batman stalked further into the destroyed cell, peering into the gloomy darkness created by the smoke. He, shockingly, pulled some sort of fan thing out of his utility belt, quickly blowing a large portion of the smoke out of his way. Barry really wasn't sure how that fan fit in that belt alongside some of the other things he'd seen Batman pull out…

When the smoke cleared, though, there was no room in Barry's mind for anything but the image he was witnessing. Where James Houston had been sitting, there was now a… a _robotic husk_. That was probably the best word he could have used. There was a strange green goo sluggishly seeping out of the robotic shell. That same goo was flung across the walls.

"So…" Barry said into the shocked silence, "I'm guessing we didn't actually catch Houston."

Batman glared at him, but Clark sent him a wan smile, so Barry considered it a win. A grunt from the door sent them all looking back at Hal, who had managed to haul himself over to the ruined cell. He put his ring out in front of him and said, "Ring, scan." Barry watched in fascination as the ring emitted a green light that waved up and down over the destroyed robot. Hal blinked at the results, "The ring says it's a Krolotean. Kind of. Apparently, they're a race of small little thief aliens from Krolotea who go to different planets, kidnap the people and create robot bodies of the people that they can control in order to make it easier for them to steal stuff. My guess is that these Kroloteans have the actual James Houston."

Barry sighed, "Great, Savage has a random alien race doing his dirty work for him. So, did the Krolotean kill Jupiter or did Houston? And how was it destroyed? Who destroyed it? Why did they destroy it? Why replace Houston? Does this have anything to do with how weird Tseng was acting? Why is it that every time we discover something new, we're left with more questions than answers?" He rubbed at his forehead aggressively, unendingly frustrated with the situation.

No one answered him which was a little rude, honestly. Barry didn't really mind, though. It was a stressful situation. He was frustrated too.

Batman frowned, muttering into the silence, "This still doesn't make sense. It's not _complicated_ enough."

Clark frowned at Batman, "Define 'complicated enough.'"

Glancing up, Batman apparently saw that everyone was staring at him in confusion and deigned to explain his reasoning, "Savage doesn't do anything unless it has layer upon layer of effect, some of which aren't discovered for months after the event. This was too simple. The only possible ramifications we have found so far are the loss of a Circus benefactor, an unknown effect on Prime Minister Tseng, and possible injury to whoever was interrogating the Krolotean."

"That sounds like plenty of layers to me," Barry said dubiously.

Batman shook his head, scowling deeper, "It would be _if_ any of them had worked. JP and LL Houston are going to continue to fund the Circus, there has been no known effect on Prime Minister Tseng, and the injuries caused by the explosion are incredibly minimal."

"Speak for yourself," Hal muttered mutinously, carefully grabbing Harold from Clark and cradling him in his lap, running his ring in a scan over his cousin.

Batman spared the two of them a look, but nothing else as he carefully examined the body, "We need to find the rest of the Kroloteans."

"We already have everyone out searching for Savage. We don't really have resources to spare," Clark cautioned.

"Then we call in reinforcements," Batman ordered, "There are people who have been applying for the Justice League. There are even those that are showing interest in joining the Team. Get them out there and looking. Tell them that we can use all the help we can get. Get metahuman groups to help if we need to. But ask the heroes first. The metahumans have their own battles to fight." Barry's heart stuttered at Batman's words. He was being so… considerate about the metahumans. There was always a concern in Barry's mind that the helpfulness of the League would one day turn to pity or overbearing concern, especially as they learned more and more about the hardships that metas had to face, but the way Batman had worded that… he didn't think he had to worry about that from Batman. The man wouldn't let the metas' pasts get in the way of his opinion of them.

Clark nodded quickly, "Right. I'll call a League meeting, get people to suggest heroes out to us. We'll have them start looking for possible Kroloteans. I'll get people working on clean up with this cell, too. And I'll send a doctor for you guys. Anything else?"

"Someone needs to talk to Prime Minister Tseng about the situation," Batman warned Clark.

Nodding again, Clark said, "I'll get the Team and the Circus on that one. Well, some of them. I'll have the rest sit in on the meeting for suggesting heroes. I think they have a longer reach than some of us would like to think about." He gave a tired, sardonic smile at his own words before nodding to them once again. Then, he turned on his heel, cape fluttering out around him as he walked briskly down the hall, hand to his ear, already talking into the comms to achieve the tasks on his self-appointed list.

Barry sighed, leaning back against a wall, watching Hal cradle Harold and Batman stalk around the room. He spoke to the room at large, "Something's got to go our way at some point."

WWWWWW

Wally had just managed to fall into a peaceful sleep (he'd taken the time to sit down with Cameron after he broke down, the two of them taking some much needed time to themselves to just talk through everything that had happened ranging from the problems with the Light to the possible freedom of the camps to their own respective girlfriends) when Kaldur's voice echoed through the headquarters, "Everyone, please come to the main conference room for an emergency meeting."

Groaning, Wally flopped dramatically on his side of the bed, "I literally just fell asleep."

"Tell me about it," Cameron grouched, eyes still a little puffy against his pale skin. He hadn't taken a moment to splash cold water over his eyes or hold a cold washcloth against them, so the puffiness and redness never got a chance to go down that much.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door before someone was striding in. Artemis froze when she saw Cameron and Wally in the same bed, obviously having been sleeping. She narrowed her eyes, "Is this something I need to worry about?"

"Definitely not," Jinx answered from where she suddenly appeared at the doorway. She waltzed into the room, grabbing Wally by the wrist and dragging him literally over Cameron and onto the floor.

Wally groaned again, "I'm getting up, I'm getting up. Jeez."

Artemis helped Cameron out of bed in a similar fashion, turning to address Jinx, "Are you sure we shouldn't be worried? They looked pretty cozy."

Jinx gave her a hesitant smile, still not really sure how to act around humans after the fiasco of the last couple of months, "You really don't have to worry. They're brothers more than anything. You've just got to accept that they're a package deal. You're dating Cameron, but Wally will be a constant in your life and vice versa for me. They sleep together when they're having a rough time. It's a comfort thing. You'll see Billy and Garfield do it sometimes too. I know I've done it with Dinah. When you're in the same bed block as someone for a good amount of time, it's just easier, emotionally, to crawl into bed with someone else some days. That's all that is."

Artemis gave her a relieved smile before turning back to Cameron, helping him off the floor. She brushed a hesitant hand against the underside of his eye, obviously upset about the indicators of his crying, but not willing to push it in front of so many witnesses. Cameron gave her a bright, deflecting smile and kissed the edge of her mouth, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the room.

After a second, Wally followed suit, lightly tangling his fingers in Jinx's hand, pulling her from the room, locking it easily behind him. Jinx looked up at him through her lashes, "Is everything alright?"

Wally sighed, "It's getting there. Apparently, Kaldur's group ran into some Collection Agents." Jinx gasped and Wally nodded in understanding, "I know, right? Kaldur assumed that Cameron would tell me, and Cameron assumed that Kaldur would tell me, so I didn't end up finding out from anybody until Garfield and Harold had a freak out. They've both been taken care of, but I could tell that Cameron needed some time to decompress. That's what we've been doing. We just settled down for a nap, so I'm not too thrilled at the timing of this meeting."

Jinx smirked, "Aw, poor baby. Doesn't get his beauty sleep."

Wally smirked back, "Well, I've got to get plenty if I want to keep up with your looks." Jinx's eyes widened and she blushed a deep magenta, smacking Wally on the arm, but also treating him with a soft little smile that just about melted his heart.

The rest of the walk to the meeting room held a comfortable silence between them, accented by the soft conversation between Cameron and Artemis in front of them.

They were some of the last ones to reach the conference room which sent a number of the more immature eyebrows waggling at them. Wally scowled at them. Weirdos. He was glad, however, to see that some people were obviously just as sleep ruffled as Wally and Cam were. Kelvin and Gar had obviously just woken up as well, still yawning. Kelvin had an arm around Garfield's shoulder and Gar was yawning into that protective arch. He always got tired after crying.

Dinah had dirt under her fingernails from where she had obviously been working on some of the plants she had moved over from the Circus headquarters to the Team headquarters sometime in the past couple of weeks. Zatanna was rubbing irritably at some of her casts, blinking sleepy eyes. Harold was, curiously, not there yet.

This was made even stranger when Kaldur looked over the gathered group and announced, "We are all here now." Wally wasn't the only one who looked around, wondering about the missing member. Kaldur winced a little bit which immediately put Wally on edge, "Unfortunately, Harold will not be able to join us as he is in the infirmary at the moment."

There was an immediate uproar, Garfield's voice the most panicked as he asked, "What happened?" There was a little squeak at the end of his question that he'd be mortified about later but didn't seem to notice at the moment.

Kaldur held up a hand for peace and everyone quieted. He took a breath before explaining, "About an hour ago, James Houston, father of JP and LL Houston was taken into custody for the murder of Loren Jupiter." There was a small murmuring of confusion around the table and Wally realized with a wince that they hadn't really taken the time to explain the situation to anyone else. Their communication had been lacking recently. Kaldur continued, "Superman and Batman went to interrogate him. Flash, Green Lantern, and Maser went to observe the interrogation. At one point, Superman and Maser were interrogating Houston while Batman, Green Lantern, and Flash waited outside. The cell exploded. Maser was knocked unconscious but seems largely unharmed. Green Lantern suffered from a few small cuts, a broken rib, and a concussion. Flash had a few small cuts, but they healed quickly. No one else was injured. Houston was killed, but it was discovered that it was not Houston that was in there." Kaldur proceeded to explain the situation with the Kroloteans and the plan to search them out, including the other heroes that were apparently just running around America and the surrounding countries. Kind of weird, but alright.

"So, who's going to be interviewing Tseng and who's going to be picking people with the League? Do we need to look at the leader of North Rhelasia too?" Roy asked, scowling. At this stage, anything that put him off the search for the original Roy Harper annoyed him. His search was starting to border on obsessive and Wally was mildly concerned, but he also didn't know Roy well enough to really be able to tell if this was something that should be addressed.

Wally frowned, "We should look at anyone who had extended contact with Light members, especially ones who worked with Luthor, though. As for who goes where… Tseng knows that Kaldur and Roy saved him, right? Or do they really think it was just Luthor?"

"I think he's got some clue, yeah," Roy said, frowning thoughtfully.

"Okay," Wally said, "Then I think Roy should go with a team to talk to Tseng. Kaldur, as the Team's leader, should be one of the people at the League meeting. I would put Robin there, too, just because he seems like the kind of person who would know a lot of people. Zatanna for the same reason. And because you're too injured to help otherwise, sorry. Then… M'gann and I can stay in the Bioship as backup while Artemis and… Conner can go in with Roy? Other Team members could go to the meeting if they wanted to or had any specific candidates in mind while the Circus members could go back to working on whatever projects they're already assigned to. Does that sound good to everyone?" He mainly aimed the question at Kaldur as the co-leader of the group. Kaldur gave him a smile and a nod in response.

Nodding back, Wally looked around him to make sure that everyone else was on board with the plan. They were. That was good. Sending them a thumbs up, Wally said, "Suit up, then."

There was somewhat of a mad scramble after all that as everyone got ready for their individual roles. Robin was snickering at the idea of Roy going on a mission where he was supposed to be nice to someone. Roy was shooting him increasingly poisonous glares.

Wally interrupted that impending confrontation by asking them, "So, what exactly is Luthor's maid-weapon-secretary thing? Because if Tseng's got one, then I want to know what it does. And how many there are out there. I hope there aren't that many. It sounds kind of scary."

"She's not that bad," Robin announced immediately.

Roy side-eyed him, "I would not be surprised if she was hiding a nuke under that pencil skirt."

Robin deflated bit, "Yeah, probably."

Wally scowled at them, "I guess I was looking for something a little closer to encouragement than this." Robin just beamed at him innocently. Brat.

Roy added easily, "I'm not sure how many there are out there. We thought it was just Luthor's but obviously that's not true, so I'm really not sure how many we can expect."

"Awesome," Wally muttered sarcastically.

Instead of picking up the topic of conversation again, Robin eyed Wally's attire dubiously, "You planning on changing at any time, or is nap-chic your new style?" Wally was wearing a pair of comfortable sweatpants and a nice, soft black long-sleeved shirt that contoured to his skin while still leaving enough room to comfortably breath. He knew his hair was probably closer to a rat's nest than anything approaching presentable.

Rolling his eyes, Wally answered, "It takes me about a second to change into my uniform. I don't need to start getting ready until everyone else is ready to leave."

It was M'gann who called out sweetly, "We're ready to go!" Wally sighed as Robin cackled, Roy smirking in the background. Others in the group looked around curiously, but Wally ignored them, swirling into his uniform. It had taken a _long_ time to perfect the combination of buckles, zippers, and Velcro to make the suit as easy to slip into as it was. Skintight suits were convenient for faster running, but not much else unless they were very well done.

Robin was still cackling as Wally walked into the bioship.

The ride to South Rhelasia was mainly quiet, small murmurs of conversation drifting between the people in the bioship. Most of them were still tired. Some were engrossed in their own projects, like Roy who never really stopped looking for the original Roy Harper. Wally himself was going through reports sent in from Holo City, checking over the progress. He visited Holo City most evenings, helping to build the city at superspeed, meeting all of the freed children in a more in-depth manner than he'd been able to manage in the past month or so. Now, he was checking on their money. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw the amount that Batman had donated. Holy cow! That was _a lot_. Certainly, more than Loren had been donated. That was…

That was amazing. Wally felt his lips curl up into a touched smile. Batman had more than scared him when Wally had started this alliance. Batman had made him furious, too. More than one time. His insensitive acceptance of the lies he'd been fed had infuriated Wally. This was supposed to be the world's greatest detective! And he didn't know what was going on? He was that ignorant? But it was dumb to be mad at Batman for that. He had no reason to believe anything else. The Light had been incredibly thorough with their machinations. They were almost impossible to spot. And Batman had been plenty busy with his own issues. During Wally's time with the heroes, he'd really come to respect just how busy they were. They were always out there, saving people, fighting evil, doing justice, but they had real lives. Wally and his team were swamped all the time and they didn't have to do anything but help people. All these heroes had secret identities they had to maintain and dedicate themselves too alongside all the hero work they did. Wally was honestly shocked that they managed to get anything done.

Through that knowledge and the fact that Batman was the first Leaguer (aside from Hal who Wally didn't really count. Or, well, Oliver, which Wally also didn't count) to really reach out and start fixing the mistakes that the world had made, Wally had come to respect and admire the man. Batman was an incredibly powerful person, especially since he really was just human. No special powers, no abilities, nothing to get him out of pinch other than his own hard-earned skills. That was more than Wally could ever imagine.

Wally was interrupted from his perusal of the reports and his ruminations on Batman when M'gann announced, "We are here."

They were hovering over the office of Prime Minister Tseng. Apparently, Superman had already secured an appointment between the Team and Tseng, so they didn't have to worry about any sort of waiting. That kind of reach was nice.

Roy sighed, "I hate meetings where I have to be nice."

"I'm excited to meet him. He has some really interesting policies about some key environmental issues," Conner said plainly, voice a little flat, but genuine interest in his eyes, making his comment seem even more bizarre.

Wally gave him a mockingly indulgent look, "Remember, you're just here to ask about Houston. Maybe you can ask Superman to book you an appointment to talk about his policies later, okay?"

Conner actively pouted at him, but didn't say anything else.

Rolling his eyes, Wally looked at Roy, "Alright, go ahead and get going. We'll be up here listening. Get out if you see anything suspicious. The usual."

Roy raised his eyebrows, "Kaldur gives better inspirational speeches."

M'gann shrugged from where she was standing up, "Wally's are good from what I've heard, but he might be sleepy right now."

"I don't know," Artemis started, expression bordering on something evil, "He looked like he was getting plenty of sleep cuddled up to my boyfriend like he was."

"First of all," Wally started, "Cameron was cuddled up to me." He didn't get a chance to make a second point before M'gann was squealing.

He tried to make his second point again, but Roy interrupted, scowling, "Robin does that to me all the time. He's like a little octopus."

Wally snorted, "Try Garfield who can – and _has_ – actually become an octopus in order to further cuddle time." M'gann looked like she was going to faint from cuteness overload. Wally wasn't sure how the conversation turned from him to fake complaining about cuddly teammates, but he didn't entirely mind.

Artemis interrupted the conversation, looking just as confused as Wally was, "Alright, we should probably get in there. It's almost time for our appointment."

Roy cut off his complaining, standing up and stretching before heading out of the bioship, Artemis and Conner following bemusedly after them. Wally looked back into the bioship to see M'gann giving Conner's camera googly eyes. Great. Somehow, he'd become the third wheel despite there only being two people in the ship.

Luckily, the trio were admitted into Tseng's office quickly. They received the utmost respect and got no signs that Tseng was at all suspicious of them. It was… curious. Did he not know that Houston had been arrested? Did he think that Houston had been taken out before he'd said anything? Or was there something else at play? Why did every answer lead to more questions?

The group in Tseng's office quickly moved past genial pleasantries and onto the meat of the conversation. Roy started with a gentle nudge in the correct direction, "I am not sure if you've heard, but the Justice League recently apprehended James Houston, a leading oil producer in America and one of South Rhelasia's leading oil providers."

Tseng's eyes widened convincingly over the little cameras clipped to Artemis's, Roy's, and Conner's suits. Tseng's lips thinned into a concerned little line, "I… I can't imagine that. What could he have done? Am I permitted to know at this stage in the investigation?" Conner was frowning intensely from his spot.

Roy and Artemis shared a glace before Roy admitted, "Normally, we wouldn't be able to tell you, but this case is a little different. It's different because James Houston made the claim that _you_ financed, planned, and ordered his criminal action."

There was genuine betrayal in Tseng's eyes when he gasped out, "I… what? He said that of me?"

"You're one of them," Conner said, interrupting whatever it was that Roy had been about to say. The entire group turned to Conner in confusion. What… what did he mean?

Tseng was apparently thinking the same thing because he stuttered under Conner's glare, "I'm… one of whom?"

Conner narrowed his eyes, stating bluntly, "One of the Kroloteans."

Artemis's mouth dropped open as she fumbled for her bow. Roy was just a little bit faster, whipping his out and aiming it at Tseng's heart before the man could even so much as blink, "Out of the robot suit, Krolotean."

Tseng wavered for a moment before slumping, body actually folding back around him to reveal a small green-grey creature blinking mutinously up at them, "Are you happy now?"

Roy sighed, "This just made everything that much more complicated. Did you know that Houston was a Krolotean when you ordered him to kill Jupiter?"

"Yes," the Krolotean explained, pausing for a moment before apparently deciding to be completely cooperative, "I did not approve of this plan in case you were wondering. That large Savage man told us that the heroes were the enemy and, frankly, after what you did on Rimbor. I was not there at the time, but our leader, Gleen, was. He knows that we are justified in doing this job. We came here to steal from this planet and Savage gave us a bigger plan with father reaching consequences to hurt you like you hurt us. He told us to send one of our members to kill Loren Jupiter, so we did. When he was captured by you, the enemy, we knew that you would treat him horribly. After your actions on Rimbor and the treatment of those other Earthlings who are different than you, we feared for the horrors he was undergoing. Gleen realized that it would be better for our comrade if he were to suffer a quick death rather than the slow death you surely would have forced upon him."

"You were the ones who blew him up," Artemis breathed out in horror.

The Krolotean glared fiercely up at them, "We did not wish for him to suffer by your cruel hands!"

"Just one question," Roy started, bow lowering slightly, "What is Rimbor?"

The Krolotean narrowed his eyes at them, "Do not pretend to not know what your comrades have done!"

"When did they do this thing that they did?" Artemis asked hesitantly. Wally's eyes widened as pieces started to come together in his mind. Justice League members apparently doing something. Revenge. Savage's machinations. It couldn't be…

Narrowing his eyes further, the Krolotean hissed, "Just a few weeks ago! Can you really tell me that you have no knowledge of your comrades' actions?"

Roy let his bow fall fully slack in his hands, his free hand scrubbing at his face, "Buddy, _they_ have no knowledge of their actions. They've been trying to figure out what they did for the past few weeks. They lost sixteen hours doing whatever it was they were doing. We hadn't been able to track that time down yet. What did they do to Rimbor?"

Hands hesitantly falling away from the robotic meat suit's control, the Krolotean gazed at them with wide, confused eyes, "You really do not know. They went on a _rampage_ in Rimbor, declaring their name and base planet, announcing that the galaxy should beware. There was a lot of damage to the buildings and to the people. There were deaths and there are now homeless crowding the streets of Rimbor. The destruction of shops and trading markets destroyed the economy. It will take years to bring Rimbor back to its former state. How can this Justice League not know what they have done?"

"Savage," Conner growled.

The Krolotean blinked, already shaking his head, "No, that cannot be right. Savage is _helping_ us against… you." His voice trailed off as his eyes widened, obviously starting to realize the discrepancies in his story.

Roy explained further, "Savage put mind control devices on all of the Justice League members, making them do those things. The Team and the Circus had to take the League down and free them from Savage's control. He was part of a larger group called the Light, but he's the only one left. He's the most dangerous, though."

"Everything we believed when coming to this planet was a lie," the Krolotean gasped, "I must tell Gleen! He must know that we cannot hurt them anymore! That we must release the captives!"

"Release the captives?" Artemis repeated, incredulous and hopeful at the same time, "Does that mean that Prime Minister Tseng and James Houston are alive?"

"Yes," the Krolotean answered, "They are being kept at a facility in America, I believe. There are others. We must free them all."

"Wait, before we go any further, what's your name? You already know ours, but what's yours?" Roy asked.

The Krolotean blinked up at him, "Well, I suppose you could just call me Tseng. I have come to rather enjoy that name." He then sealed his robotic suit around him, Tseng's voice filtering through the device, "Do you have some way to get to America quickly?"

"Definitely," Artemis said with a mildly disturbed smile. Tseng smiled plastically back at her. Wally was impressed with that craftsmanship. Who thought of such a complex way to assimilate into an alien species? It was fascinating.

Tseng opened his mouth to say something when Conner twitched. M'gann's hands flew into action at the same time and she pressed a button to activate the comms, "We have an incoming. It looks like some sort of ship."

Roy put a hand to his ear, activating the two-way comms, "Is it Krolotean?"

"Why do you think we'd know what a Krolotean ship looks like?" Wally growled, moving closer to M'gann as she pulled up an image of the incoming ship, a strange white-skinned person driving it.

Wally took the image, sending it over to Roy's holo computer. He watched on the camera as Roy pulled it up, frowning down at it, "I have no idea who this is." Artemis shook her head in confusion, Conner frowning as well.

Tseng, however, paled dramatically, "That's the Main Man!"

"That's… who?" Roy asked incredulously.

"Lobo!" Tseng hissed, "He's a bounty hunter! He must have received a bounty for me and my comrades. Who would do this?"

"Savage?" Conner suggested.

"This is really, really not the time to be discussing this," Wally said, "This is the time to be getting back to the ship so we can run away."

"Right," Roy muttered, "That makes sense. Let's go guys!"

The four of them took off, racing through the hallways, flying past shocked security and secretary people. Wally watched their cameras bouncing, heart in his throat. Come on, come on, come on. The enemy ship continued to get closer and closer.

And then, suddenly, it was there.

It loomed into existence right above the Prime Minister's office, sending nearby civilians screaming for cover. Lobo smirked in his ship at the sounds of their screams.

"M'gann," Wally said, narrowing his eyes on the ship, "This thing's got weapons, right?"

"Right," M'gann said, a fierceness to her voice that Wally hadn't heard before. Wally blinked at her, a little shocked at the change. Maybe he needed to work with her a little more if he got to see more of this M'gann.

The ship didn't slow down as it crept closer which surprised Wally. Was it planning on passing around the building first? What was it doing?

That question was answered pretty quickly when it _smashed_ into the Prime Minister's office, taking out an entire wall. Wally and M'gann gaped at it. Was he serious? This man had no qualms when he was on a mission, apparently. Swallowing harshly, Wally watched as the man climbed out of his ship, red eyes narrowed at the building in front of him. Wally prayed that he didn't catch up to the rest of his team. He really didn't want to battle this guy.

Roy called into the comms, "What was that crash?"

Wally laughed, a touch hysterical, "That was Lobo smashing his ship into the building as an attack technique."

Quietly, Artemis hissed, "Psycho."

Tseng was definitely panicked as he muttered to himself, "Lobo never fails. Lobo never misses a target. Lobo never goes back without his bounty captured."

"Will you stop that?" Conner snapped. Tseng fell silent.

"How large _is_ that building?" Wally asked incredulously when they still didn't appear, a minute or so later.

"Red Arrow wouldn't let us take the elevator," Artemis grumbled, "And we're several floors up. I think we're justified in taking this long."

"Unbelievable," Wally hissed.

In front of him, Lobo stood and sniffed the air, looking around him. For one heart-stopping moment, his eyes landed directly on the cloaked bioship. Wally and M'gann froze, breaths stuttering in their throat. Then the eyes skipped past them, looking around.

Unfortunately, Lobo found the others before Wally and M'gann did. The two of them didn't even get a chance to shout a warning before Lobo was firing off a shot from a gun he seemingly pulled out of nowhere.

Roy and Artemis ducked out of the way, Conner ducking to protect Tseng from the attack. M'gann opened fire with the bioship even as she opened a path for Wally to get out and fight. Inwardly, Wally sighed. He'd wanted a nice, peaceful interaction with Tseng, not this nightmare that the situation had turned into.

He got out just in time to pick Roy up, pulling him out of the way of another shot. Roy cursed at the unexpected superspeed, having to take a moment to pull himself back together. Wally hovered carefully, making sure he wouldn't need to be moved suddenly again.

Artemis called out, "What's the plan?"

Tentatively, M'gann reached out with her mind, offering a mental link. Wally gave him her permission and spoke into the silence of their mind communicator, _Getting Tseng to the bioship is our main priority. We do_ not _engage this guy. We don't know a thing about him, so fighting him will not be easy. As it is, we've got him outnumbered, but he's an, apparently, famous bounty hunter. It's dangerous to underestimate him. Artemis and I will keep him distracted while Conner and Roy get Tseng to the bioship. M'gann, you watch out for that ship and make sure that they can get into the bioship when they're ready. If you've got something big and flashy, get it ready. Artemis and I are going to need a quick extraction. Got it?_ He received four mental nods in response, _Then let's go_.

He and Artemis moved in tandem, immediately breaking off to directly face against Lobo. The man merely grinned at them, bright and guileless. He was _enjoying_ this. He got off on the hunt. Wally gritted his teeth and _ran_.

It was somewhat amusing to watch Lobo's grin slide off his face in slow motion. It was less amusing to watch the grin slide back on. He struck out with a punch that Lobo, impossibly, dodged. Although Lobo was still moving slower than Wally was, he was _fast_. Almost Superman level fast. Not fun.

Lobo grinned at him, "You think I can't recognize what you are? I know a meta when I smell one, runt. And I've got just the thing for you." He pressed a button on his belt, grinning all the while. Wally's eyes were open, ready for anything that might come out. Nothing happened. The grin slid back off Lobo's face, "What? Why isn't it working?"

Wally's brows drew together in confusion but decided to ignore it in favor of the opening being presented to him. He launched another punch. Lobo dodged it. Wally was starting to realize that Lobo was a lot better of a fighter than he was. Awesome. Lobo glared at Wally, "Why does the Light have you protecting the Krolotean?"

"Why… what?" Wally asked, even more confused.

Lobo scowled at him, "Don't play with me, boy. I know that the Light's given their pet metas the ability to not be affected by inhibitor zones. Savage told me to put on a show, but he didn't tell me I'd have acting partners."

Thinking quickly, Wally frantically planned. He ended up going along with Lobo's words, "I could say the same. My mission controller said nothing about someone attacking us."

"They didn't want your cover blown," Lobo said, red eyes glowing in his face, "Makes sense, I guess. Hope I didn't mess that up for you." Something evil lit up in the back of Lobo's eyes and he suddenly leaned in, far, far too close to be comfortable, "Better make this _real_ then."

Wally didn't get time to do more than make a confused sound before Lobo was sending him flying from a vicious punch that _definitely_ broke Wally's cheekbone. Fantastic. Wally growled, sending through the mental link, _I officially hate this guy. Also, warning: he's a very good fighter and moves almost as fast as Superman. Not fun._

 _You okay?_ Artemis asked, pulling out what looked to be a polyurethane arrow and firing it. Lobo caught it with his hand, looking highly pleased with himself. He laughed when the arrow exploded into the foaming substance, instantly hardening around him. He _flexed_ and the foam shattered around him. Awesome. Just what Wally wanted.

Luckily, though, the others were about halfway to the bioship. It didn't look like it was going to be too hard to get them away safely.

That was, of course, the moment when Lobo started getting serious. He raced in, shooting off a gun at Wally while throwing a punch at Artemis. Wally dove to the side to avoid the shot. Artemis blocked the punch, visibly wincing at the strength of his blow. The two traded blows as Wally dove back into the fray.

He dropped himself into a baseball slide, one arms dragged behind him for stability. His legs were bent slightly as he slid. Once he got close enough, he pulled one bent leg up under him, pushing off his arm and pivoting on that foot, the other extended. Instead of sweeping Lobo's feet out from under him like it had done in training, Lobo _jumped_ over Wally's foot, landing back down on it. Wally felt his leg break and had to grit his teeth to hold in a scream as he tumbled into a standing position, only stumbling a little bit as he tried to right himself on his bad leg.

Artemis sent him a worried glance but didn't get the chance to do more than that as Lobo went down on her. The two exchanged another flurry of blows, weaving in and out of each other's weaknesses.

Wally braced himself before going for the simpler method of clobbering. He grabbed a big rock and moved in, running circles around the two of them, picking up speed while trying to not cut the oxygen to the area. When he finally picked up enough speed to feel like he was faster than Lobo, he moved in.

He was doing it! He was moving faster than Lobo, even on the broken leg! Take that!

Wally closed the final distance, smashing the rock down with all the force of the speed he'd gathered. This would kill most people, powered or not. Wally hoped it didn't kill Lobo because he didn't want to deal with the freak out from the Team if it did manage to kill Lobo.

Except, Lobo didn't even flinch. Instead, he backhanded Artemis, sending her crashing into a nearby car. The alarm went off, creating an eerie backdrop to the sudden silence of the battlefield. It was distracting, too, which was something that Lobo took full advantage of.

He grabbed Wally around the waist, picking him up and _bending_. He held him there for a moment, laughing, "I could break your back, stop you from all that annoying running. I have to admit, though, that as annoying as your running is, it's also amusing. Someday, when you are more prepared, we'll fight again. I think you might actually turn out to be an interesting challenge." Instead of breaking Wally's back (thank God, thank God, thank God), Lobo _smashed_ him into the ground, definitely breaking a rib or two. Wally groaned around the last breath of air in his lungs, wheezing on the inhale.

Lobo stepped on Wally's back and _ground_ him into the pavement below them. Lobo laughed again, deranged and heated with some sort of sick passion. He kicked Wally in the head and the speedster knew nothing else.

 **Author's Note: Watch me fully stealing plot points from season two of Young Justice so I don't have to think of an entire mastermind plot by myself, haha.**


	52. Chapter 52

**Author's Note: Here we go with another chapter! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **HI – Haha, I'm glad you liked it. I simultaneously felt like I was rushing it and drawing it out too long, so it makes me happy to hear that people enjoyed it :P Hmm… I guess you'll just have to wait and see :P Thanks for the review as always!**

WWWWWW

Wally came to in a flash of pain. Coughing around the mouthful of gravel he'd gotten at some point during the fight with Lobo, Wally tried to ignore the pulsing beat of pain spiraling out from his ribs, his cheek, and his leg. Quietly, Wally groaned, feeling the quiet beginnings of an epic headache behind the healing bruise where Lobo, apparently, kicked him in the head to knock him out. Ow, ow, _ow_.

Slowly, hearing filtered back in alongside the pain. What sounded like Artemis's voice was above him, saying worriedly, "Hey, wake up. C'mon. Up you go. Wake up!"

Wally opened his mouth to say something but closed it as a flash of pain ran through his cheek and jaw. Ow. _Ow_. Lobo really got in a good hit if it hurt that hard. Instead of trying to talk the normal way, Wally mentally probed at that spot where their mind link had been. He was relieved to find that it was still there, and he sent out, _What's happening? Where's Lobo?_

As Wally slowly blinked sight back into existence, Artemis peered down at him in concern, "He's gone. He took Tseng with him. We weren't able to stop that. Sorry. Why aren't you talking out loud?"

Roy, Connor, and M'gann were all hovering around him, Roy looking a little worse for wear. Wally wondered idly how Lobo took out the four of them long enough to get Tseng away from them (the worry about losing Tseng would set in later). Wally answered, _My cheekbone is hardcore broken. I_ can _speak, but if this is still an option, then I'm going to use this. Why are you all hovering around me? He didn't take the bioship, did he?_

"No, no, he didn't!" M'gann assured him, "We just were not sure how badly you were hurt and we didn't want to move you until we were sure."

"I had seen you running around and stuff up until he hit your head, but when we got over here, your leg was very obviously broken, so I'm not sure what all you're hiding," Artemis said, shooting him an accusing glare.

Wally glared back, _My leg's broken, my cheekbone's broken, a couple ribs are broken, and I've got a raging headache from being kicked in the head. Otherwise, I'm fine. I can get up._

"Absolutely not!" Roy declared, moving to pick Wally up. Conner rolled his eyes and moved forward, slightly pushing Roy out of the way. He picked Wally up like he weighed nothing more than a little kitten.

Out loud, Wally groaned before he said through the mind link, _This is so embarrassing! I can walk!_

"But you don't have to," M'gann said, smiling slightly as they all started moving towards the bioship.

Wally pouted, _I'm halfway healed already anyways! This is unnecessary._

"Wait until you're all the way healed before you start trying to pull that. Walking will just set you back!" Artemis lectured, "Honestly. Who do you think will have to deal with Cameron when he sees how injured you are?"

 _Me_ , Wally answered petulantly. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"It's only a couple of feet! Stop complaining!" Roy growled at him. Wally grumbled, but subsided.

Finally, they made it to the bioship and Conner set him down gently on some sort of fold-out bed that just kind of popped into existence. This was such a weird ship. A good one! But a weird one..

Wally immediately sat upright once he was set down, leading to a chorus of annoyed groans from his teammates. He rolled his eyes at them and went to assess his healing. Artemis actually hissed in annoyance when Wally poked his leg.

He glared at her, _What? I'm testing to see how healed it is!_

She glared back, "It's only been about five minutes since you were knocked unconscious! It's not going to be healed yet!"

Wally looked curiously down at his leg, _It's only been five minutes? Normally I'm not this healed by then. Especially with how fast I was running on it. Maybe I've gotten faster…_

"I know you've got fast healing, but how healed is it?" Roy asked curiously.

Wrinkling his nose in thought, Wally answered, _It'll probably take about thirty more minutes_.

"To heal a broken leg?" Roy checked. He shook his head in disbelief when Wally nodded, "That's unbelievable. Completely ridiculous. Do you realize how unfair it is that you can heal a leg that quickly?"

Wally could bring up the fact that, in his mind, it wasn't nearly 'unfair' enough to make up for the blows he'd been dealt for simply being a meta. He could bring up the fact that his speedy healing was what made the doctors at the hospital believe that he was a meta in the first place. He could bring up the fact that sometimes he healed so fast that he needed to break bones again and set them correctly.

But the time for bitterness was long past. It was time to start trying to move on from the life he'd been hanging onto. The heroes were here to help. They were here to make sure that the Light was defeated and the metas were freed. He wasn't always going to be the leader of an underground metahuman resistance group. Someday, he was going to be free and he was going to have to start assimilating back into humanity.

So, instead of all the things he could have said, Wally said, _Not my fault you're too slow. Get better._

Roy lit up at the friendly teasing, his expression smoothing out as he rolled his eyes. Unfortunately, Wally realized a second too late that he was going to have to break up the nice moment, _So, what happened with Tseng and Lobo? Did Lobo say anything else? Is anyone but me injured? Sorry, should have thought of that first._

Roy sighed, expression deflating into something sad and tired, "Nah, you're good. And the rest of us are pretty much fine. Some cuts, bruises, and tender ribs, but that's it. I think Lobo stopped messing around after knocking you out and decided to just take Tseng and go. Tseng was only able to tell us that the main Krolotean base was in New Orleans before he was taken."

"I don't understand why Lobo waited so long to get serious. Was he aiming for Wally too? He only really tried to be quick once Wally was knocked unconscious," Conner said, eyebrows drawn together.

Blinking as he remembered the conversation he'd had with Lobo (little bits of the battle had been floating slowly back into his mind as the headache filtered away), Wally tested out his jaw. Ah, much less pain. He could talk like this. Moving his jaw a little bit to loosen it, Wally said, "It was part of his contract." The rest of the people in the room jumped, surprised. Apparently, they were expecting him to speak mind to mind. Oops. He sent them an apologetic grimace before continuing, "Savage apparently hired him to not only take Tseng, but also put on a show."

"When did you have this conversation with him?" Roy asked incredulously.

Wally sighed, "When he was beating me up. He tried to use an anti-meta device on me but, obviously, those don't work on me anymore. He then thought that I must be one of Savage's metas because, as far as he had heard, Savage was the only one who was giving metas this 'cure' or whatever. Savage wanted Lobo to make the battle big and flashy."

"That's probably why he crashed his ship into the building as a landing technique," Artemis muttered bitterly.

"I hate Savage and I hate trying to figure out his games. Why can't he just do something the normal way for once. One big fight that decides the whole thing. That would be nice. No more plots within plots within plots within plans that take a good five years to come to light – no pun intended, don't look at me like that," Roy grumbled, leaning his head back against his chair.

Rubbing his forehead, Wally theorized, "We know that Savage is trying to get rid of the heroes. Obviously not directly because he could have pretty easily killed all of you when he had you under mind control. Although, he would have missed the teenaged heroes unless there was some sort of plan to get you guys."

"He doesn't want the heroes _gone_ ," Artemis realized, "He wants no new heroes to pop up either."

"He's trying to disillusion the people of world of heroes. He's already got metas in an anti-meta mindset. The JL went and did some mildly destructive stuff on Earth while he was controlling them which sets humans against the Justice League. There was also video of the JL hunting Roy for a little bit which confuses the humans and makes them less likely to trust in the heroes. And now they just had Lobo fight against heroes, win, and take the Prime Minister away which makes heroes look incompetent. Plus, people are definitely noticing the Circus members working with the Team and the JL and some of them recognize us. Heroes working with metas is not a good thing in the eyes of most people. He's trying to make you guys look bad," Wally finished, eyes wide.

"Not just to the people on Earth," Conner added, voice solemn, "But to the people in the entire universe. The Justice League members destroyed Rimbor. It's probably an important place or something, so a lot of people are going to hear about it."

"Savage is systematically ruining the reputation of heroes," Wally breathed, slightly awed, but not really because what a trash thing to do.

Roy scrubbed a hand through his hair, "What can we even do about that? He's been working this for _years_ and we're just trying to play catch-up."

"Well, you're the good guys. And the good guys always win," Wally said. They were heroes! Even if some had their reputations ruined, they'd be able to come back from it. That was just what a hero inherently was: good.

Except, the other four were staring at him with something approaching shock with a hint of awe. Wally really didn't understand what he did to deserve that look.

M'gann swallowed before smiling, slowly but blindingly, "I'm really happy to hear that you think so highly of heroes."

Wally gave her a strange look, "Of course I do. You're heroes. Why is it weird for me to think that heroes are the good guys?"

"You certainly didn't think that when you started working with us," Artemis informed him archly.

Rolling his eyes, Wally defended, "That's not true. I was suspicious and worried about my team. And you guys weren't exactly making it easy to play nice. I've always thought that heroes were good. Well, okay, there was a brief time early on in the camps where I lost faith in heroes, but that was dumb. Other than that, I've always believed in heroes. Sure, I tried to stay away from you guys and had a healthy amount of fear of heroes because heroes caught metas all the time, but that's reasonable."

"What do you mean you lost faith, but it was dumb?" Artemis asked, voice almost soft. It was a weird sound for her but not a bad one.

Wally winced. He hadn't really meant to say that. Sighing, Wally tried to explain, "Before the camps, I _loved_ heroes. I thought they were the coolest things. I wanted to grow up and be a hero. That was always my wish. Then, I ended up in the camps and I just… wanted someone to save me. And heroes save people, right? But they didn't save me. And so, I lost faith. I lost faith in the fact that heroes were always there to save you, that they could help fix your problems, that you could count on them. But it was dumb to lose faith like that. Heroes aren't all-knowing and all-powerful. You couldn't have known what was going on. Most of you weren't even heroes back then! The heroes were out there, saving all sorts of people, but… you can't save everyone. I understand that. It's not wrong. It was just happenstance that you couldn't save me. That's all I meant by it."

Now they were giving him tragic expressions. Wally winced again. He didn't get a chance to try to smooth things over before Roy was speaking, expression fierce and determined, "You know, that's a lesson that takes a long time for heroes to learn. We can't save everyone. And yet, you still believe in us. If you, who we failed to save for so long, who had to watch us fail to save everyone around you, can still believe in us like this, then I think we've got a chance. And, for what it's worth, I'm sorry about not being able to save you."

Wally let out a small little sigh, something almost fond and a little sad, "That's just the thing. I think you just might save me yet." The others smiled at him, bright and humble and _good_.

Heroes always win.

KKKKKK

Kaldur sat in his room, legs crossed underneath him. He was gripping a picture of Garth, trying his hardest to not cry again. As embarrassing as it had been to cry on Wally like that, Kaldur was glad that Wally had stayed, that he'd felt close enough to be there for Kaldur like that.

Still, grateful emotions and good friends would do nothing to find Garth. Bruce had been unobtrusively investigating Argus and the Collection Agency to see if they could find any of the Teen Titan members, but the record-keeping at the camps was so laughably non-existent that he was having issues locating them. If they were even in the camps.

Sighing, Kaldur relaxed his grip on the picture, hoping he didn't wrinkle it. He wished Garth would have come to him about this. At the very least, Garth could have come to Kaldur about this when Kaldur started working with the Circus. That must have proved _something_ to Garth. Then again, they hadn't really been talking all that much recently.

As much as Kaldur understood that Garth and Tula were beautiful together and would be a strong, powerful couple, he could not help but feel the slightest bit cheated. He had always loved Tula, had believed that he had made that abundantly clear.

Of course, he forgave both of them because it was not his decision as to who each of them loved, but it didn't mean it couldn't hurt. Additionally, Kaldur knew that Garth felt… slightly abandoned by Kaldur. Although Garth was able to use Kaldur's time on the surface world to realize his feelings towards Tula, he still felt that Kaldur should have stayed in Atlantis or, at least, with him.

Kaldur had been the one to become Aqualad, but Garth was still his best friend and his partner. He had not been doing as much as he could to check up on Garth. Even as Garth was, apparently, being a Teen Titan and saving metahumans, he had been able to keep up with Kaldur's life enough that no one even realized he had a secondary team. He must have been bitter about the fact that Kaldur could not manage the same. Well, that Kaldur had not tried as hard to do the same.

He wanted to see his best friend again. He wanted to be able to give Garth a hug, to take the time to really talk everything over. Kaldur needed to have a moment of absolute honesty with Garth, to fix their friendship before it fell victim to any more secrets or hidden resentments.

But he couldn't talk to Garth because Garth was missing. And finding the Teen Titans was very low on the list of priorities. Of course, there were a lot of people looking for the Teen Titans. Many people had connections to the members of that group – the Amazons, Martian Manhunter, STAR Labs, Atlantis. But finding and stopping Savage was most people's priorities. Then there were others like Roy who had thrown himself into the search for finding his original body. Dick was frantically plotting and planning and hacking in order to secure a better future for metahumans. Wally was completely lost in the stress of dealing with a new city and a new benefactor and more communication and bringing metas slowly to the forefront of people's minds. And all of those things were taking place in the rare bits of free time between the frantic search for Savage.

Not to mention, a large number of the Team members were back in school. They spent all day in school, doing their homework in every free second so they had less to do when they went back to the Team headquarters that night. Kaldur knew that the stress of it was starting to get to people. Artemis had barely seen her mother in weeks. Months, honestly. She'd been working so hard on defeating the Light that she'd spent most evenings at HQ instead of home with her mother. Kaldur hadn't been home since that fateful trip where he learned of Garth and Tula's relationship. Conner and Clark had finally reunited, but they hadn't had a single moment to themselves to cement that bond and finally start mending their broken relationship. M'gann and Conner never got a chance to go out on dates. Raquel was constantly tired, trying to juggle extracurriculars on top of all of this. Zatanna was still mourning her father and trying to figure out her own life and how she fits into civilian life without her father.

With all of these stressors and problems piling up, it's not wonder that the missing Teen Titans were relegated to the bottom of the pile. And yet… it breaks Kaldur's heart. He searches for them on his own time, but he was never a very accomplished hacker and he didn't have the surface world connections necessary to look for his best friend. The two people with the best connections he knows of are already searching, even if it's a passive searching.

Kaldur sighed again, smoothing his fingers over the photo before putting it away in a small case he used to keep mementos of his home.

A short knock at the door prevented him from looking any further through the box. He glanced towards the door, calling out, "Please come in."

Slowly, the door opened, and Wally crept in, Dick and Cameron following close on his heels. Kaldur raised an eyebrow at the strange sight in front of him. Wally sent him an apologetic smile, "Sorry to disturb you, but Robin accosted the two of us in the hallway and then demanded that we bring him to you."

Dick grinned brightly, "Roy's out patrolling. Conner is on a date with M'gann. Harold is still in the infirmary for a little extra supervision. Kelvin is at the new Holo City and Billy and Garfield are helping rebuild the homes of the African tribe you guys always mention. So, we're the only guys, but I wanted to have a guys' night! Just us guys hanging out, watching a movie, eating some snacks, talking. That sort of thing!"

Wally narrowed his eyes, "Like a sleepover?" Tilting his head in consideration, Dick nodded.

Cameron smiled softly, "I've never done a sleepover with anyone but the other Circus people."

Wally glanced to him in surprise, "Really? Nothing before the camps? I think I was invited to one, once. It was one of those ones where the popular kid invites everyone in the class because their parents told them to. Still shockingly fun."

Cameron grimaced at him, "How do you even remember that? Your memory is freaky. And nah, I was a pretty recognizable kid with the blue-eyed albino look going on so Dad didn't want me getting too close to other kids, especially not close enough to go to their homes and get potentially recognized. If we were in a town, it was because he had a job there."

"Legit," Wally said, apparently non-plussed at the thought of a small, young Cameron being moved from town to town based on whatever illegal activity his father was committing at the time.

Feeling a small smile forming on his lips, Kaldur admitted, "I had not had a traditional sleepover until I met Roy and Robin. And, even then, I have only ever had sleepovers with them."

"An exciting new experience for all of us," Wally said drily. He didn't seem particularly enthused about the sleepover idea, but he also didn't seem like he was going to fight it.

Sometimes, watching him, Kaldur would think that Wally was a lot like an indulgent father. He was always ready to comfort his teammates, always ready with a trick or a tip to make them calm down and feel better. He reluctantly joined in on their play, oftentimes making simple games more spectacular than they ought to be. He obviously cared about each and every one of them with all of his heart. And, sometimes, he would give his teammates such a painfully tender look that Kaldur would need to look away.

Someday, when they were older and Wally had learned to share his burdens more with others, he would make a wonderful father. Kaldur hoped that he would be able to be there and share in that joy, witness that event. He was certain that Wally could become great friends with all of them, given time and a chance to heal.

"Then it's a go! Come on, let's go! This is going to be so exciting!" Dick said, expression brightening.

"Where are we even going?" Cameron complained, resisting being dragged out of the room by an over-eager Dick.

Dick grinned at him, "To the main room! I've guaranteed that we aren't going to be bothered there, even if the others come back. Don't worry, I've got an asterous movie picked out for us. You guys have to gather the snacks together, though. I prepped and got a ton of stuff, but you've got to grab it."

"I'll get it. I'm fastest," Wally said, already preparing himself to run. Kaldur put his hand on a stray pile of loose papers in preparation.

Cameron scowled at him, "You are absolutely not running?"

Wally pouted, "What? Why not?"

"You broke your leg yesterday!" Cameron cried, exasperation leaking out of him.

"So? That was yesterday! C'mon, Cam. I know you know me better than that," Wally threw back, eyebrow raised judgmentally.

Cameron glared at him, "I know you _can_ , but you probably _shouldn't,_ and you don't _have to_ , so what you're actually going to do is go _walk_ to our rooms and grab us some comfortable clothes. You're going to change into your clothes and bring mine out to me. If you beat me to the main room, I'm going to beat _you_ , got it?"

Rolling his eyes, Wally sighed, walking out of the room and waving a hand behind him, "Yeah, yeah, I got it. Calm down." He walked purposefully slow, presumably just to irritate Cameron.

It didn't seem to affect the meta, though, because Cameron just smirked at Wally's slowly retreating back before turning towards Dick and Kaldur, "Alright, what snacks did we need?"

Dick grinned at him again, grabbing his wrist and pulling him towards the kitchen area. Kaldur rolled his eyes and made no move to follow. Instead, he grabbed himself a set of comfortable sleep clothes and a soft, fluffy blanket he had fallen in love with.

As he closed the door and started changing, the guilt started to creep in. What was he _doing_? What were all of them doing? This was no time for a sleepover! They were busy! There were people to save! Garth was _counting on him_.

Garth was… Garth probably had no clue whether he should be counting on help or not. How would he know how people would react to finding out he was a member of the Titans? How would he know if they designated him high priority or not? How would he know if he even had supporters left to fight for him?

Garth and the other Titans were so scared of the retribution for joining an underground metahuman group that they kept their involvement religiously secret. They hid themselves from family and friends and loved ones to protect themselves, to protect their teammates, and to protect their cause. They saw the truth of the metahumans long before Kaldur did.

Kaldur wondered how many movie nights Garth had with the Teen Titans. How often did he slip off to the surface world to help them on missions? To spend time with them? To celebrate anniversaries and holidays with them? Did they even get the chance to spend holidays together?

Kaldur was being ridiculous with his guilt. Sure, he _could_ be spending this time looking for Garth and the other Titans. Would he have, though? Or would he be so worn down by stress and frustration and fear that he would have simply spent more hours clutching a photo because he couldn't touch the real thing? It was not good to try to do so many things, save so many people, with all of this stress bearing down on him. He needed a night like this to relax and decompress. He needed to become more _himself_ again, in a way he hadn't been able to be in a while.

It was especially important to do this now because of all of the projects they were undertaking and the foe they were facing. Just the next morning they were meant to meet with the new temporary Team members. The young heroes who wanted to help would be introduced to the problem and the people involved and would be assigned new tasks. It was daunting to realize that amidst all these sorrows and problems they were going to attempt to add new people to their group and their dynamics. It would be difficult, but, Kaldur believed, better in the long run. Healthier for their group. Better for the fate of mankind. Better for the fate of _metahuman kind_.

So, Kaldur took a deep breath, shook his head, and headed towards the main room. He needed this.

WWWWWW

Wally shifted almost nervously from side to side. It felt weird to be meeting heroes like this. He almost wanted it to go back to the way it used to be, back when they met the Team. It was nice having Lorraine go out and be the face of the Circus, testing the group before the rest would show themselves.

Instead, Wally was going to have to directly face the new teenaged heroes who wanted to join the Team. He had already gone through the list of potential recruits with the rest of the Team and the Circus and they'd picked out the ones that were going to be a good fit, but this was the final test. If the recruits wouldn't work with metas, then they were out. If the recruits were willing to work with metas, however, then they would be inducted as allies of sort. Or maybe probationary heroes? Wally wasn't entirely certain how the logistics of that worked. He didn't know if it meant that they were being tested to see if they could join the Team after this whole mess or if they were just temporary allies. He figured that kind of information was best left to Kaldur.

Wrinkling his nose, Wally tried to shift his mindset. He was going to have to be careful to start using codenames instead of real names again. And he'd just gotten used to the real names, too. That was a tragedy.

Jinx must have noticed his distress because she brushed pale grey fingers along the edges of his gloves. He gave her a small smile but wasn't able to say anything else as the doors opened and five people walked inside.

Wally had told the Team that he and the Circus didn't want to know the secret identity of these heroes. Wally knew that Robin at least had to know them but that didn't matter to him. As far as he was concerned, these people could walk away at any moment and he didn't want them to think that the Circus were going to use their secret identity for nefarious purposes. It was easier to just let the new recruits tell the metas their identities when they were ready. Better to not force anything too quickly.

He'd seen pictures of the suits, though, so he was able to easily name each of the four who entered.

The first was Batgirl who looked like she could kill someone with less than a glare and was significantly more terrifying than she needed to be. She had the aura of Batman with the lethal grace and deadly poise that looked more familiar in someone like Cheshire.

After her was the new Wonder Girl. Since the title was mostly a formality focusing on the girl's position in relation to Wonder Woman, this new girl had taken on Donna Troy's title while the elder girl was captured by the Collection Agency. Wally wasn't sure how much this new girl knew about Donna's predicament or the situation that allowed her to take on the Wonder Girl title, but he'd be interested to see who got the title after Donna was rescued (and she _would_ be rescued).

Walking side by side after Wonder Girl were the two Atlanteans attempting to join. One was simply called Lagoon Boy and did _not_ look like any of the three Atlanteans Wally had previously met (these being Kaldur, Arthur, and Garth). The other, Wally knew the name of. This was Tula, Garth's girlfriend and one of Kaldur's best friends. The vehemence with which Kaldur had fought the idea of Tula joining the Team as Aquagirl was mildly frightening. It was worse, though, when he'd slumped in his seat, admitting defeat. It was obvious that he recognized her drive to find Garth and save the people that Garth had been fighting for. It was obvious that he couldn't bring himself to fault her for her actions. And, apparently, she was a powerful sorceress or something of the sort. He couldn't deny that they needed her.

Finally, hovering around the back of the herd and generally looking like he was trying to disappear into the background while still standing tall, was Blue Beetle. Wally didn't know the guy's deal and fully recognized that the thing covering him was a suit and not his skin, but he still couldn't help but have a hard time remembering that there was a kid underneath all that armor.

These were the reinforcements that the Justice League and the Team had been able to get. These five people (if they all passed the test) were supposed to be the well-earned relief from the constant stress and frustration. They were supposed to be the ones who would help find the Kroloteans.

In the end, Wally felt bad for them. He would have liked to meet them under better circumstances, in a situation where they weren't thrown headfirst into this kind of horrible situation. This was going to be hard for them. Some were going to need full mindset reboots. This wasn't going to be a nice introduction to a great team. This was going to be gritty, dangerous, heartbreaking, and _real_ in a way that no one wants a noob to understand.

It didn't matter what they wanted, though. What mattered was that there was a problem that needed fixing and these heroes were going to step up to the job.

So, Wally took a deep breath and stepped forward. They needed to get this show on the road.

 **Author's Note: There we go! Yay! Mostly fluff, a little info dumping, but there it is. I will go back to legit plot next chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	53. Chapter 53

**Author's Note: I was having some technical difficulties getting last chapter up, so I wanted to know if you guys got the notifications for chapter 52 or if chapter 52 showed up or not just so I can fix it accordingly and not make the same mistakes in the future. Regardless, here's chapter 53! Read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Response to Guest Reviews:**

 **HI – Thank you so much for the review, as always!**

WWWWWW

Wally didn't know what he'd been worried about. The new team members got on great – with everybody. There were, occasionally, flashes of discontent, confusion, and fear from some of the new members when they were faced with a particularly daring action by a metahuman, but it was nothing overt, nothing damaging to their relationship. It was just a wall that they were going to have to break down, together. If the Team and the Circus had tried to find people like this months ago, when they'd first started working together, that wall would have been a lot thicker, but the public opinion of metahumans really was changing. Plus, some of the new heroes were integrated into hero society and were able to hear from others what working with metahumans was like.

All in all, it was one of the smoother transitions and interactions in this whole mess. Plus, it was amazing what adding only five people could do to the workload. Wally felt like he could _breathe_ for the first time. Of course, part of that had to do with things actually settling down in Holo City.

All of the buildings were built, and the people were placed. Jobs were set back up and children were given loving homes where they could start to try to heal from the horrors of camp. The two adult camp escapees in Holo City regularly held sessions where anyone could come and hear about their transition from camp life to civilian life (as much as they could call it civilian life in the unique city they lived in) and all of the kids had semi-regular appointments with therapists. Not as many appointments as they probably should have, but certainly more than they would have gotten.

A good number of people had been released from the Pipeline so they could help with the battles and, afterwards, help with the rebuilding and moving. They'd been tentatively allowed to move into Holo City proper and were mostly asked to live close to or with Pipeline guards just as an extra assurance on their behavior. Some were a little bitter about the arrangement, but not enough to risk their tenuous freedom.

Others, such as Tommy Terror, were quite pleased with their arrangements. Cameron (the female Cameron, guard at the Pipeline with the ability to nullify powers) and Tommy had gotten on quite well, apparently, and were currently living together with the hopes of moving their romance to further heights. Apparently, Tommy wasn't going to make any more permanent steps until he could find his sister again and try to bring her to Holo City. Cameron was a little worried that Tuppence was going to convince Tommy to go to the dark side again. All Wally could tell her for advice was to be honest about her fears with Tommy. He was not the person to ask about dating advice.

That was another thing that had settled in rather easily. Wally had been expecting a lot of tense silences and uncomfortable actions as they tried to settle into a romantic aspect of their relationship, but they had kind of just… fallen into the romance without any extra effort. Part of it was because Wally was so focused on completely open communication with his people. Communication was essential, powerful, and stopped a lot of problems from happening. He'd made sure that they sat down and talked everything over relatively soon after the relationship started. It had been awkward and they'd blushed and stuttered their way through the entire thing (it had been made easier, though, by the knowledge that Cameron had been attempting to have the same kind of conversation with Artemis in the room next door), but they'd done it and Wally believed they were better for it.

It had been slightly difficult at first to be able to see her and not picture her in that horrible room, eyes dull as they made her do horrible things to him. He knew it wasn't her and he knew that it probably hurt her more than it hurt him, but it was still hard for him – for both of them. It had taken one mini freak-out session to smooth over that issue and realize that they both needed an excuse for a trust exercise to solidify their bond.

Those were really the only two things that had settled down but, again, the five additional members were amazing about lightening the load. Tula and La'gaan (as Lagoon Boy had asked them to call him) were able to stay at the base and work full-time which was an enormous help.

They were set to search for and identify Kroloteans. Hal had been around to give them as much information as he could about the Kroloteans and how they operated (as seemingly nice as Tseng had been, the Kroloteans were a really nasty piece of work overall). They'd also been set to create a peace plan and an action plan for dealing with the aliens. Everyone really wanted to Kroloteans to give them a chance to talk so they could explain the delicate situation, but the likelihood of that was quite low after Tseng's disappearance. There was no telling if they'd blame Lobo's actions on the heroes or not. They didn't know enough about the Kroloteans to feel one way or another.

Batgirl had been given the job of searching for the missing Teen Titans. A lot of people were working at half their ability because they were anxious about the missing Titans. Finding them would not only be incredible for their sakes, but it would be incredible for getting people back on track, emotionally. Of course, some extra players on their side wouldn't hurt anything.

Wonder Girl and Blue Beetle made for a strange team-up. The two of them really weren't well suited for each other, but they had limited options and pretty much everyone already had their own projects. The two of them were assigned directly to sorting through the ties between the government, Argus, the Collection Agency, and the Light. Knowing where the connections lied could give hints as to who was a Krolotean in disguise, as to locations where Savage could be, and as to how to free metahumans once and for all. If they could just publicly announce the Light's machinations…

But those were the assignments that each of the new people had taken on and it had reduced everyone's stress considerably.

Wally was currently trying to figure out what, exactly, the scientists at the camps had been testing them for. Obviously, they weren't trying to stop metas from being metas and obviously they'd done some research to make metas immune to inhibitor collars and the like, but that didn't account for the sheer amount of research being done on metas across all countries. Luckily, they were able to get a lot of information from the Light bases that were raided. Wally was trying to piece together all of the scattered bits of research that the world did. (It made him sick the first time he tried to read the papers; he'd been sitting in the common room with all the Team members, new and old, and the Circus members and he'd stood up and _raced_ to the bathroom to dry heave there for the next two hours, Cameron rubbing lightly on his back when'd caught up, trying to prevent Wally from falling into a spiral he wouldn't be able to crawl back out of).

After a few tries and a few panic attacks, Wally was able to read the research and separate his memories from the words on the papers. The papers might be a graphic, impersonal recounting of Wally's worst memories, but they were also helpful, enlightening, and the slightest bit morbidly fascinating.

Finally, though, pieces were starting to come together.

Wally glanced up at the room full of whiteboards he'd commandeered for the research. After the first failed attempt at reading them, Wally had taken to reading the papers somewhere private. After realizing that there was enough research that he'd need something to keep him straight, he'd ordered a lot of annotating supplies and set himself up in a room with whiteboards where he could make his connections. The whiteboards looked like the world's most complicated calculus problem and a murder board had a baby and it was all written in his less than stellar handwriting (but, to be fair, he hadn't written anything in the six years he'd been in the camps and who had good writing after not writing anything from ages eight to fourteen?).

It was inherently obvious from the research that most of the scientists had been working under vastly different goals. There were a very small, dedicated few who had been looking for a way to cure the metahuman condition. Most, however, were looking for various strengthening techniques. Had Savage given different groups different assignments, or had he told them he wanted stronger metahumans and simply let them make their own decisions?

Obviously, a couple groups had discovered a way to negate the effect of inhibitor fields. A few had found tinctures and remedies that vastly increased the healing abilities of metas. One had developed a drug that was Bane-esque in its execution. Others still had developed medicine that would make the meta-gene undetectable in the blood.

But there was one underlying theme that locked all of the researchers together, even more than just metahuman strengthening techniques. They had been researching how to forcibly activate the meta-gene.

It was a fascinating topic, as awful as that sounded. Wally was aware that a lot of metagenes were activated through some sort of trauma. In his (and his uncle's) case, being struck by lightning and thrown into a bunch of chemicals. Garfield was bitten by a weird poisonous monkey thing and given that cure by his parents. Kelvin was infected by the weird alien things that attacked Gotham (this was also, incidentally, the way that the rest of the Blood Pack were turned into metas). So on, so forth. Of course, this wasn't true in all cases. As far as Dinah was able to tell, she'd had her Canary Cry since birth. It was a complicated subject and, therefore, fascinating. What made it so some people had to get the gene activated while others had it already there? Why did some people never manifest abilities?

From what it looked like from the research, Savage wanted to make sure every single person with the metagene had the metagene activated. Did he think that made it more likely to be passed on to the next generation? Or did he believe that whatever struggle he was prepping Earth for was going to happen soon enough that people needed powers _now_? It was impossible to know the answers without talking to him.

Either way, Savage was _so close_ to figuring out a way to activate the genes. Honestly, he probably could activate the genes already with what information he had. He just wouldn't be able to reliably do so. A lot of people would die in the process.

Wally had a sinking feeling that Savage wouldn't care all that much. In his mind, it was probably better if some died off in the process. Only the strong must survive, right? Savage was that level of sicko.

So, what did this tell Wally? Why was this important? This felt important to him.

Cracking his neck slowly, rolling his head from one side to the other, Wally tried to rationalize through the research the way he imagined Savage would do.

Savage wanted to make people disbelieve in heroes. He wanted people to stand up for themselves and become their own heroes. He wanted people to evolve. Those were three goals. Savage had manipulated the entire world into capturing metahumans partially to generate a system to weed out the weak, but partially to study metahumans. What goal or goals did this apply to? Evolution. Definitely that one. It gave people the ability to stand up and be their own heroes, so that was another one. Did it help people disbelieve in heroes?

Well, it certainly made heroes seem less special. Hey, that normal guy got powers and saved some kid from getting hit by a car. If he can do it, so can everyone. People could easily be manipulated into something like that.

But that still didn't make sense, long-term. In the end, people would still be awful. Nothing would change. People would still commit crimes - they'd just be crimes with powers. There would still be people who were stronger and more righteous than others who would go out and be heroes. That's just how the world worked. Making everyone a meta wouldn't change that.

That was long-term, though. That meant… that meant that whatever Savage was preparing Earth for? It was coming soon. Well, soon for an immortal, of course. That could mean anything from ten months to ten years from then. But it was still something.

Maybe Wally could talk to Hal, get him to ask around with the other Guardians, see if there's some sort of threat heading towards Earth. Or was the threat already on Earth? What was it that had Savage so scared that he'd go to this much effort? He was purposefully and forcefully shaping the entire course of humanity and metahumanity. It was… terrifying. To think that something spooked him so much that he was willing to go to such levels to protect the planet… What could it possibly be?

"Have you had lunch yet?" Blue Beetle asked.

Wally shrieked. There was no getting around it. He shrieked like a little girl faced with a scary, evil looking rat.

On the plus side, Blue Beetle seemed more inclined to be terrified than to make fun of Wally, so that was something. Always nice to not be made fun of by your subordinates.

Swallowing compulsively, Blue Beetle scrambled for his composure, "Uh, sorry man. I really didn't mean to startle you, sorry. I was just… uh, Aqualad told me to bring you lunch? I mean, I guess I thought other people were going to be in here because there's a lot of food in this, but. Well, I'm not judging you for the amount you eat or anything! I, uh, really? He eats that much? Is that part of being a metahuman?"

Wally narrowed his eyes at Blue Beetle, trying to keep up with the conversation switches, "Are you talking to someone? Other than me?"

Blue Beetle gave him a shifty-eyed look (without his actual eyes showing… impressive) and muttered, "No."

Wally narrowed his eyes further, "Well, that's obviously a lie, but whatever. You do you. You said something about food?"

"Yes?" Blue Beetle responded, head tilted back a little bit like he was hoping Wally would make more sense from a distance. Wally could have told him that was useless.

Sighing, Wally said, "Did you bring it here, or…"

"Oh, right! Sorry, sorry! You just, uh, yeah. The initial interaction messed me up. Sorry," Blue Beetle said. He quickly handed Wally his food and then started shuffling backwards, obviously not sure if Wally wanted him for anything else.

Rubbing his forehead and sighing again, Wally gestured to the only other chair in the room, "Why don't you sit down? We can share some if you want." He nudged his food container towards Blue Beetle a little bit.

The other teen's shoulders came up around his ears and he muttered, "Nah, I'm fine. I just ate." He paused for a just a second before apparently feeling like he needed to justify himself or make an escape route or _something_ , "I don't really understand all this science stuff. I can't really help you with this."

Wally gave him a small, unsure smile, "Well, I hadn't really been intending to ask you for help, but now that you've mentioned it, you probably could help. I've got the science part. It's the people part that I'm not quite so good at. If I gave you a hypothetical situation, could you say what you'd do?"

Blue Beetle fidgeted on his chair before slumping, nodding despondently at Wally, "Yeah, sure boss. Whatever you need."

"Boss?" Wally asked, momentarily sidetracked.

Shrugging, Blue Beetle explained, "You and Aqualad are the bosses. So, boss."

"Okay," Wally said, trying to take the title in stride, "Imagine you're with all of the people most important to you. You know that there's a threat coming. You cannot escape. The threat is going to come. Now, imagine all of the people closest to you don't know how to fight because they've never really had to since you always protect them. But you know that the threat coming is too strong. You can't do it alone, but you can't get anyone but the people you started with. What do you do?"

Blue Beetle gave him a look like this was some sort of all-important test and he was sure he was going to fail it, "I would tell my people about the threat and I'd work with them to stop the threat. We'd train together and set up traps and stuff. Then they'd be able to help even if I don't want them put in danger."

"That's it!" Wally yelled, causing Blue Beetle to jump again, "That's the question I've been missing. I've been trying to figure out what's most confusing about Savage's plans. Why not just tell people that there's a threat coming? People could prepare for the threat the normal way instead of the weird, horrible manipulations that he's been doing. He wouldn't have to subject people to disgusting, horror-movie black tar treatments if people knew about the threat and were able to set traps and whatever."

Voice hesitant but growing stronger as he warmed up to his topic, Blue Beetle argued, "Protecting close friends and family is different from protecting the world. Not everyone's going to listen to you in the world. There will still be those obstinate enough to ignore the warnings."

"Not enough to cause problems. The world's super connected right now. Everyone works with everyone and knows everything. If one country believes there's a threat, then they can all prepare. Besides, Savage has no qualms about wiping out those who oppose him," Wally shot back.

Blue Beetle shrugged, "He's a supervillain. He doesn't have the sway to get something like this out to the public, does he? I mean, seriously, would people like the UN even take him seriously?"

Hm, that was actually something to consider. But… Wally shook his head, "Savage had enough sway nine years ago to start metahuman hatred on a global scale. You can't tell me that he couldn't have used that sway to get people to realize the threat they're facing."

"Maybe so," Blue Beetle allowed, "But people are impatient. We can plan and plan and plan, but, eventually, we'll get to the point where no threat is coming and nobody's going to care. We don't know how far out this supposed threat is."

"Savage is immortal," Wally said suddenly.

Blue Beetle gave him a strange look again, "Yeah…"

"No, no, it's just what you said!" Wally explained, "We don't know how far out this supposed threat is. We don't know how long the Light's been around, either. How long has Savage really been manipulating the scenes? He's been around for something like 50,000 years. The man's got to have fingers in everything. How much of today's politics are Savage's inventions? How many of them have been geared towards making this day and age possible? It was only recently that the metahuman population really surged even though there's been evidence of metas since, well, since people started keeping records. Savage had to wait to start his plans until the metagene became more popular, more easily accessible."

"I'm still a little lost…" Blue Beetle admitted.

Wally glanced up at him, "Who's to say that Savage didn't find out about this 'threat' hundreds of years ago? Maybe _thousands_?"

"That's why he felt the need to do it this way. He knew the threat would take so long to manifest and he knew that he couldn't convince people to better themselves without a clear and present threat which wouldn't happen for _forever_ ," Blue Beetle theorized, "How did he know when the threat would come back?"

"Prophecy? Clairvoyant kind of thing? Maybe he talked to the threat at some point. Any one of those are viable options," Wally responded.

Blue Beetle's eyes widened, "That means there's a chance it's hidden in history. A chance that somewhere, in some book or something, there's a description of the threat."

"And if we know what the threat is," Wally finished, "We're one step closer to fully unraveling Savage's plans."

"Then I'll get working on that!" Blue Beetle said, excitement lighting up his expression.

Wally smirked, a little fond despite himself, despite how little time he'd spent with this new hero, "How about you take a break and keep me company while I eat? Everyone else has left me and I'm tragically alone now."

Blue Beetle eyed him a little suspiciously, like he wasn't quite sure what he was being asked for here, "It's probably better if I can bring the container back to the kitchen anyways. I don't know, whatever you want boss."

Rolling his eyes, Wally sighed, steeled himself, and admitted, "Wally. My name's Wally. It's probably easier to just have you call me that." His heart was pounding even though he knew it was ridiculous. What was Blue Beetle going to do? Track down his family? Use them against him? Wally hardly knew his own family and Blue Beetle wouldn't do that. He was a hero who had already proved that he was okay with working metas. It was fine to trust him, fine to be open with humans.

There was a pause, a dawning expression clear even through the mask as Blue Beetle stared at him in surprise. Then, slowly, the mask retracted from Blue Beetle's face and a young teen blinked at Wally, "The name's Jaime. But, just so you know, I'm probably going to keep calling you boss. And, well, I'd like it if you would call me Blue Beetle to the others. Just… because. You know."

"I do know," Wally said, fond again despite himself, "So, get to know you questions… what's your favorite color?"

The disgusted expression on Jaime's face was _gold_ , "That's such a chick question! It's a _lame_ chick question! I can't believe you just asked me that. No. I refuse to answer that. Except the answer is _blue_ , _obviously_ , but whatever. I won't answer it. Dumb question. Try again."

Wally laughed and laughed.

KKKKKK

When Blue Beetle (Kaldur had opted to take the same approach as Wally and would let heroes reveal their identities on their own terms even though he knew that Dick knew all of them) didn't return after almost thirty minutes, Kaldur started to get concerned. There really wasn't much trouble that someone could get into in their hideout, but Kaldur was still worried.

What if Wally had said something to upset Blue Beetle? What if they fought? What if Blue Beetle was sitting somewhere, upset? Where _was_ he?

Asking Tula and La'gaan gave Kaldur no answers. Batgirl had to do a family thing and wouldn't be there to help. Dick was similarly engaged. Wonder Girl was missing as well. This was not a good start.

Stressed, Kaldur figured that his next best shot was to go see if Wally had even _seen_ Blue Beetle. Where did Wally say he was? Ah, right, the room where he'd been translating all of the science research papers to something useable. Hopefully he would find something. At the very least, the activity seemed to be calming to Wally. Kaldur personally could not understand the appeal but everyone was different.

Except, Wally couldn't possibly be in that room because there were bright peals of female laughter emanating from it. Kaldur might have assumed that Jinx went to visit Wally but, from his interactions with the girl, she didn't really laugh and, if she did, it was snickers and giggles as opposed to a bright, booming laugh.

Still, it didn't hurt to check to room. Carefully, Kaldur edged around the corner of the room. His eyebrows lifted in shock as he saw a smirking Wally, a laughing Wonder Girl, and an animated Blue Beetle engaged in some sort of story. Somehow, parts of Wally's meal had ended up in the hands of every member in the room (Cameron was going to be furious when he realized that Wally wasn't eating his entire lunch) and they were eating their food as they told stories.

Well, at the very least, this answered the question of where the two missing members were.

Wally was the first one to catch sight of Kaldur, his smirk evening out into something a little softer. He waited for a break in Blue Beetle's story to call out, "You can come in and join us instead of loitering outside like a concerned parent. Don't worry, I haven't bitten them yet."

Wonder Girl sent Wally a startled look, but Blue Beetle just smirked like he was in on the joke (he might be, but Kaldur wasn't entirely certain that he was and couldn't tell). Kaldur cleared his throat and commented idly, "You seem to be getting along with the new group of heroes better than you did with us."

Sending him a mischievous look, Wally grinned, "That's because this group is better."

Blue Beetle grinned and threw a fist in the air, "You bet we are, boss!" It was good to see him open up a little bit. He'd seemed so cautious around them that Kaldur had been worried, but apparently, he just needed the right person to open up to.

"Have you discovered anything yet?" Kaldur asked, looking over Wally's notes before realizing that he had zero clue what any of them meant. This all seemed… unnecessarily complicated.

Wally sighed, "Way to ruin the mood, man. We've got something to help narrow a search. I know that the Justice League and the Alliance have been working on creating a comprehensive timeline for Savage's life all the way back to when he was just another dumb caveman. If we look through that data and talk to Hal about potential alien encounters with Earth, we can find out when Savage might have met an alien that scared him into making this kind of plan."

"How do you know that it is an alien that is causing this?" Kaldur asked cautiously. He had the feeling that he had missed out on a lot of conversation here.

Wonder Girl grinned brightly at him and Wally explained, "Wonder here had the idea that Savage is being pretty intense about his workings here on Earth, so if the threat was from Earth, it would know what's up and Savage's plans would be useless. Also, from what Beetle and I talked about, we figure that the threat came by Earth for the first time a long time ago, so it's got to be a pretty long-lived thing to be able to be a threat again soon. Not a lot of creatures on Earth can live that long."

"Ah," Kaldur said, "You have certainly been productive today." Wally gave him another small smirk, nonplussed at the situation.

"I came in here to see what was taking Blue Beetle so long and then Supersonic offered me some of his food and a break and we all just got to talking and that's how this all happened. Supersonic's so smart! It'll take us no time at all to find out where Savage is!" Wonder Girl beamed at Kaldur. It was refreshing to have such unconcerned optimism around again.

"That is good. I am glad that you were able to figure this out together," Kaldur stated.

He was about to say more, but a voice in his comm interrupted him, " _Hey Kal, we've got a concrete sighting of both the Teen Titans and the missing Prime Minister._ " Barbara sounded completely out of breath, apparently having run around to find someone with a direct link to Kaldur's comm.

Across from him, Wally was receiving a message of his own, eyes narrowed as he held his hand to his ear. The other two were giving each other worried looks. Kaldur spoke into his own comm, "We will be right there."

They would be. And they'd save everyone. They had to.

 **Author's Note: Sorry the chapter's kind of bleh. I wrote it in several installments since it's been a bleh kind of weekend. Thanks for reading!**


	54. Chapter 54

**Author's Note: I think we're truly finally into the endgame here. I mean, that doesn't necessarily mean that the end is** _ **near**_ **, but we're entering the final stages of the story. I think. We'll see, I guess. Read, review, and enjoy!**

KKKKKK

Koriand'r sighed and threw herself against the wall. She hated the _waiting_. Of course, this time it actually had a purpose. Before, though? The waiting itself was _torture_. Pure, horrible, painful _torture_.

She didn't know how long the Titans had been trapped in this place. She didn't know where Loren was or what he was doing to get them out. What could he even do, though? She hoped he wasn't risking his societal position and fortune just to rescue them. Maybe he would see if the Circus would help.

Then again, there were a lot of rumors going on talking about how the Circus joined the heroes. The metahuman community was split in many directions on the subject, of course. Some were betrayed, completely offended that the Circus – one of the most known, most respected groups – would dare to work with the _heroes_ on anything. Some were disbelieving, unwilling to think that the famed group would stoop that low, would put themselves in danger. Some were pleased, certain that if anyone could change the ways of the heroes, it would be Supersonic and his team.

For Koriand'r… she didn't know _what_ to think. Supersonic was… an unbelievable person. He was so much stronger than she could have ever possibly predicted. And he was so smart! The times they had asked him for help or sent him science questions were innumerable, but he provided every time. It often made her wonder what he would have been like if he had not been taken to the camps. So, in her mind, she could not imagine Supersonic doing anything for or with the heroes unless he had truly, fully thought things through in his mind. There must have been a reason why he was working with them. There _must_ have been.

Not that any of that helped alleviate her boredom at the moment. Koriand'r's head tilted back until it met the wall of the futuristic cell she had been relegated to. The others were given cells in a different part of the compound, all together, but they had separated her, as the leader. They were foolish if they thought that would make any difference. Her people were still as much of a strong, amazing team without her as they were with her.

Even now, separated as she was, unable to interact with her fellow team members, they had been able to communicate an escape plan between them. It had taken a lot of… what was the word? Finagling? What a strange word… Still, it had taken a lot of finagling on their parts to get the message passed along, but they'd managed to find a young guard who they could convince to help them get coded messages around with. He was a sweet young thing and Koriand'r felt as if she were unfairly manipulating him, but he had also admitted to willingly working with this awful organization.

To be honest, though, Koriand'r didn't know _what_ organization held her captive. It was certainly Collection Agents who took her and her team captive, but none of them were sent to the camps ( _thankfully_. Koriand'r didn't know what she would have done if she or any of her family were to be sent to that awful, awful place). If it was the Collection Agency who took her, then… why weren't they in the camps? At the very least, why weren't the metahumans?

Did the Collection Agency know of the team-up between the Team and the Circus? Were they using the Teen Titans as collateral or a threat or a hostage situation against the Team or Justice League?

Or had the Collection Agency handed the Teen Titans off to someone else? Koriand'r couldn't imagine a reason why they would want to do that, but she also didn't pretend to understand the minds of the people who worked for the Collection Agency.

The young guard they'd manipulated into helping them wouldn't be persuaded to tell them where they were or who held them. He was too determined not to break that specific rule. Koriand'r didn't understand his reasoning either.

She supposed she could just work to figure all of that out after she escaped from the prison they were locked into.

Of course, there were a lot of other things they would need to do when they escaped. The first item on Koriand'r's list was _train_. The Collection Agents should _not_ have been able to get the drop on the Teen Titans. Sure, it was good to have a place where they could feel some semblance of safety, but they should not be so secure in the knowledge of the security of the Titans Tower that they let their guard down. The second item would be to see what damages were done by their disappearance. She did not know if the Collection Agency had outed Loren as their benefactor or landlord or _friend_ , but they would need to do damage control if that were the case.

The third item was talking to their friends and family. The entire team had agreed to hide their Teen Titan activities from their loved ones, partially to keep their loved ones safe and partially to keep _themselves_ safe. They were, technically, criminals after all. And metahumans were not so easily accepted (that's not mentioning the fact that, suddenly, the public rating of metahumans had skyrocketed, leaving the chances for metahuman freedom higher than ever). Their disappearance had to be noticed. Koriand'r knew that some of the team members had left behind notes or videos explaining their role in the Titans for if they were ever captured. That would be a disaster to deal with. A… necessary one, Koriand'r believed, but a disaster, nonetheless.

Shaking her head, thick red-pink hair flying around her, Koriand'r sighed. She needed to be thinking of much happier things! Especially right before a mission. She needed to be as focused as possible for the mission and dwelling on the struggles they faced and the what ifs they would have to solve was not the way to focus and be happy.

She didn't get the chance to think many happy thoughts before the door clicked open in front of her. Koriand'r looked up, grinning, "I am so very glad that friend Cyborg is good with the technology."

Koriand'r raced out of the room, heading straight towards the stairwells. All she needed to do was get to Karen and get her cuffs off. She had been not pleased when she realized that whoever had taken them had prepared measures to keep all of them imprisoned without access to their powers.

But once her cuffs were off, Koriand'r would have powers again. Cyborg had stated that he could get the metahuman inhibitor collars off the metas without shocking them (which was a side effect of the normal method of removal) and Karen already had plans to deal with the rest of their cuffs.

Carefully, Koriand'r followed the instructions she'd been given on how to get to the general meeting point.

Up eight flights of stairs.

Turn right out of the stairwell.

Pass four doors before entering the fifth.

Go up one flight of stairs.

Turn right out of the stairwell.

Turn left at the first possible moment.

Pass three doors on the left before entering the fourth.

She was, somewhat embarrassingly, out of breath by the time she got to the room. Thankfully, though, she could see the rest of her team in the room and they seemed unharmed. Half of them had their restraints already removed and there were no outward injuries present. That was good.

What wasn't good was the alarm that went off the moment Koriand'r opened the door. She only had a moment to exchange panicked expressions with her teammates before she was whirling into a defensive stance, a nearby coat stand becoming her weapon. Behind her, she heard sounds of the others doing the same thing. Only half of the team had operational powers. It wasn't an ideal situation.

Except… except it was only one person who came bursting in through the door.

Koriand'r stared in surprise as a tall, muscular, tan man with dark brown hair fashionably cut raced through the door, eyes clear and calculating even as he panted. He managed to get out between breaths, "I can get you out safely. If you trust me. The Circus has a safe place we could go."

"No way!" Isaiah (Hot Spot when he was lit up red like this) cried, disbelief overtaking his features, "We have no idea who you are! No way I'm going to trust you!"

The man growled, frustration leaking into his features, "I hate that I'm proud of you for not trusting me because it's really freaking inconvenient right now. Look, I'm one of the benefactors of the Circus just like Loren Jupiter was or whatever. The Light knows that you were planning this escape plan but they found out too late to stop you from starting it. They're still in a good position to stop you from escaping though. Unless you let me help. I'm already going to be bailing whether you come with me or not. By offering you my help right now, I've shown my hand and I can't go back. You can be captured or not, I don't care. I'm getting out either way."

Koriand'r didn't know what to do. On the one hand, this was a complete stranger telling them to go with him, telling them to trust him when they had no reason to. On the other hand, what could the enemy gain by sending him? What possible trap could they be springing with this?

In the end, there really only was one choice. She could stay and fight an entire organization or she could do with this man and only have to fight one – if it even came down to a fight. She liked the latter odds much better.

Koriand'r nodded to him, "We will go with you."

" _Starfire!_ " Karen hissed, obviously not agreeing with her decision. It didn't matter. This was the best course of action. It had to be. It _had_ to be.

The man nodded, already turning away. He scooped a large duffel bag off the floor just outside the room before throwing three more back at them. Koriand'r blinked in surprise when she saw that it contained their outfits. He called back, "We don't have time for you to change into different outfits, but if you've got weapons in there you can use, grab them. Hopefully, we won't need to fight, but we'll see."

Koriand'r nodded to him in thanks, heart pounding in her throat. Some of the others pulled out favored items from the bags, but she kept a tight grip on her coat stand. It was good enough for the moment.

The whole group of them crept through the halls, alarms blaring in the background. There didn't seem to be anyone in the area that they were in which was good. Did this stranger really know what he was doing? Then again, it seemed like he had a rather intimate knowledge of the system…

Of course, the moment Koriand'r thought that things were going alright, a group of four guards rounded the corner. For a moment, everyone was frozen, staring at each other in shock. One of the guards pointed accusingly at the strange man, "Maxwell Lord?! What are you doing with the prisoners?"

The man, Maxwell Lord, apparently, grimaced at them, "I find that my interests are a little closer to theirs than they are to yours."

The guard scowled, confused, "Arrest all of them! Make sure to let the higher-ups know about Lord's treason. What could you possibly gain from helping them? They sympathize with _metahumans_." Koriand'r's heart broke at the flinches Pantha and Jericho made at the poisonous tone.

Lord, however, just grinned, "Yep, I know. That's why I'm helping them."

Koriand'r glanced at Lord out of the corner of her eye, just as confused as the guards as to what that meant. No one got a chance to ask before the head guard's eyes went blank and he said slowly, "Oh. I will let you go through. Sorry for stopping you up."

Lord smirked at him, already moving past the head guard, passed the equally accommodating and blank lackey guards, "That's what I thought."

They got down two more hallways before anyone spoke. Donna practically shouted at Lord, "What was _that_?"

"That is what you call a metahuman ability. I have the ability of telepathic persuasion. It's what I would have used to make you guys follow me if you'd disagreed, by the way. Supersonic would not have been pleased if I left you guys in there. The whole Circus and Team and Justice League are looking for you guys. Plus a whole lot of other people. Must be nice to be that popular," Lord answered, looking entirely too smug for the situation. Koriand'r was tempted to roll her eyes, but was too grateful to do it.

"Where are we going?" Koriand'r asked after a beat.

Lord shook his head, "Can't risk telling you here. I don't want there to be any listening devices I didn't disable. They'd be able to find us, then. As soon as I think we're far enough away, though, I'll tell you where we're going."

He looked like he was going to say more, but he was interrupted. A wall _collapsed_ next to him, almost clipping him with the debris. Lord jumped back, almost slamming into Raven before she caught and steadied him. His lips twisted down, "Looks like they caught up to us. This is the advance guard, though, and we're almost to the exit. If we defeat these guys quickly, then we're free and clear. I can't get them with my ability. They won't engage in a conversation with us. This is going to have to be some old fashioned fighting."

Immediately, Cyborg reformatted his arm into some type of gun and Karen pulled out her stinger guns. Raven, one of the few whose abilities were unlocked, summoned her dark energy and floated several feet off the ground. Donna and Isaiah, the only others who had their abilities available, both readied themselves as well.

Koriand'r spoke quietly to them, "Our main goal is to defeat the enemy quickly. Make sure to keep friend Jericho and comrade Lord safe. Those with powers are our main line of defense. Does this work?" Everyone answered in the affirmative even if Lord looked miffed. Maybe he thought he could fight too.

Koriand'r didn't get a chance to dwell on it because she was suddenly thrust into the battle.

There were maybe twenty enemies which made her nervous. If this was the advance guard, then what was the main threat like? Thankfully, it didn't look like there were any powered individuals, but the fighters in the advance guard were incredibly skilled and appeared to be trained in some sort of martial arts. Plus, they all had proper weapons.

Still, Koriand'r did not let that get her down. The Teen Titans _would_ escape this place.

She threw herself into another opponent. She managed to brain him with the coat stand, but was soon tackled in her own right. She slammed onto the floor, breath whooshing out of her as her attacker landed on top. They grappled for a moment, kicking and hitting and bucking as hard as they could to get the upper hand. Koriand'r was able to briefly flip them, but the enemy simply rolled them back into their original locations.

It was only a well-timed gunshot that saved her. Koriand'r blinked slowly past the blood dripping from her enemy's head onto her face. Bile rose in her throat, but she forced it down. The Teen Titans did kill, but only as a last resort and, therefore, very rarely. Seeing that man die, so close to her, made her feel sick. She shook her head, pushing the man off of her and sitting up to see Lord gazing at her carefully, gun held easily in his hands. This man was much more dangerous then Koriand'r had expected. She could only hope that he remained on her side.

By the time she managed to stand up, the battle was over, fallen enemies surrounding them. Lord was racing down the hallway before Koriand'r got a chance to say anything, "Come on! The real fight is coming, and I'd like to avoid that!"

Without any other choice, the Teen Titans followed him. Hopefully to safety. Hopefully.

 **Author's Note: I had had plans of a much longer chapter, but I fell asleep five different times writing this little baby chapter, so you guys are going to get the rest another day, haha. Oops :P Thanks for reading!**


	55. Chapter 55

**Author's Note: I feel like I wrote you literally yesterday. Like, I looked at the clock today and I was like, nope. Can't be Saturday. It's Monday. Gotta be. Apparently not. ALSO! Just so you know, this chapter might be a little confusing. Just a warning. I swear it'll make sense by the end! Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **HI – Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Things moved remarkably quickly once they got the solid information. It was agreed that they were going to bring in a lot of players because this was an important mission and they had an unknown number of hostages to rescue. It was also agreed that most of these players would have to stay hidden for the initial contact. They didn't want to overwhelm the Kroloteans with too many heroes converging on them. It was _also_ largely agreed that the heroes should handle the initial contact. It itched at Wally to not be as close as possible to the hostages in case they needed a quick escape, and he didn't understand the reasoning. The Kroloteans _hated_ the heroes. They were more likely to kill the heroes on sight than to agree to a sit-down!

But the heroes said that it was more important for them to go. They had better negotiation skills. It was better to start building trust with creatures other than just humans. They needed to repent for whatever they did on Rimbor. All of that. Wally didn't think those things were all that important compared to the hostages who were sitting at the Krolotean base, but what did he know? Not like he's been active longer than the heroes or anything.

He was the slightest bit bitter.

Still, he was outvoted y heroes who wanted to repent and metas who didn't want the stress of dealing with a hostage situation.

So, the healed members of the Team (new and old) and the Circus got in the bioship and headed to New Orleans. Hopefully to save the Prime Minister and the Kroloteans. And whoever else had been replaced by an alien. What a thing to happen. Wally sincerely hoped that he never got kidnapped by aliens. Well… Superman, Superboy, and Miss Martian all helped in his capture and imprisonment in the Team headquarters. Did that count as being kidnapped by aliens?

Wally shook his head. This was really not the time to be thinking about this. He had to focus on the plan. Send in a small contingent of heroes – that would be Kaldur, Roy, Artemis, and Superboy because the first was a leader and the latter three had the most interaction with a Krolotean. Talk the Kroloteans down. Negotiate for release of prisoners and order for retreat for all those aliens currently pretending to be human. Find out more about their interactions with Savage and with Lobo.

Plan B: Send in a small contingent of heroes. Talk the Kroloteans down. Fail. Send in more heroes. Use them as a distraction for the Circus members who would be locating and freeing the prisoners (hopefully not too many prisoners because as versatile as the bioship was, it still had a limited size). Defeat the Kroloteans or escape to defeat them another day. Whichever one was more convenient based on the situation.

Both were solid plans, but… it didn't feel right. Not to Wally, at least. Something about the whole situation seemed off. Whatever. He was fast. He could react to whatever the situation threw him.

Sighing, Wally got more comfortable as the four ambassadors or whatever got hooked up with their microphones and cameras. He nodded to Kaldur as the Atlantean stepped out. Wally hoped, for Kaldur's sake at least, that nothing went wrong. The poor kid had been devastated over the loss of Garth. It would be good for him to have his friend back. And for the two of them to clear the air between them. Wally knew that Kaldur was still heartbroken that Garth hadn't gone to him for help or just to talk, that Garth hadn't trusted him. So, he hoped that they found Garth and that the two could make up. Kaldur deserved it.

As soon as those four were gone, Wally looked over at Robin and M'gann, "Hey, could you two discretely scan the building and Krolotean base for anything… I don't know. Amiss? Something doesn't feel right. But I also don't want to tip off the Kroloteans. I don't know what they'll do if they know we're in their system or scanning them." M'gann offered him a firm nod, already pulling up scanners on the big window, moving the images from the cameras off to the side.

Robin flashed him finger guns before pulling up his wrist computer, already hacking away. Wally was always amused by the little Robin faces he used to hack into things even if he felt like they were a bit egotistical. Well, if he was that good at hacking, he'd probably be a bit egotistical about it too.

While they were doing their work (slowly, apparently, based on Robin's aggravated muttering about how slow it was trying to stay hidden), the others had been brought to the leader of the Kroloteans, Gleen. They were standing before him at that moment, backs held straight, but heads bowed in supplication.

They let the Kroloteans speak first. Gleen glared down at them for a long moment before hissing out, "What do you _monsters_ want?" Around him, other aliens started chanting the word 'monsters,' grumbling and pushing at each other.

"We wish for an understanding to be reached. There has been an error in communication," Kaldur answered easily, not even flinching at the macabre chorus surrounding him.

Gleen bared his teeth at them, "An understanding? An _understanding_? What do you want us to understand? The destruction of a market planet? The loss of our livelihood? The kidnapping of one of our own? The way you delivered another one straight to the Main Man? What do you wish to explain?" He was hissing again by the end of it, voice starting to warble strangely, making Wally think that whatever system they had in place for universal communication didn't work so well when they got all heated like that.

Kaldur, however, remained standing strong, "I wish to explain all of that, if you would allow it."

Some of Kaldur's calm bearing seemed to be effecting Gleen because, after a moment of narrow-eyed consideration, he waved a hand magnanimously, "Do whatever you want. It will be amusing to hear you prattle on before we kill you." He was obviously intending for the comment to unnerve them, but all four of the heroes remained standing tall, unburdened. He hardened his gaze.

Taking the permission, Kaldur immediately launched into an explanation, "First, I would like to explain the situation behind the destruction of Rimbor. Although those were the heroes of the Justice League attacking Rimbor, it was not their actions. They were being mind controlled. We have destroyed the mind control devices and freed them, but they did not have any memory of Rimbor. If we had not asked the Krolotean in Prime Minister Tseng's body, we would not have known where those Justice League members went when they were mind controlled. As for the kidnapping of one of your own people, that was unintentional. We were not aware that Kroloteans were even on Earth. That Krolotean had, at the behest of Tseng, killed one of our dear friends. We were asking James Houston – or who we believed to be James Houston – about the death of our dear friend. He gave us Tseng's name and we went to Tseng to get more information. That is all. None of our actions were meant to be an attack against you or yours."

"I don't believe you," Gleen said immediately. Roy growled low in his throat, quiet enough to only be picked up by the microphones.

Artemis stepped forward slightly, getting Kaldur's nod of approval, "What can we do to prove it to you? We have the information on the research into the mind control devices and we have video of the interrogation of the Krolotean we apprehended. Red Arrow, Superboy, and I were there when Prime Minister Tseng was taken. We can tell you what we saw and heard there."

Gleen turned his eyes onto her, but ultimately ignored her words, "Who was _supposedly_ controlling the minds of this _Justice League_?"

"A man from Earth named Vandal Savage," Kaldur answered immediately, firmly. No one could doubt that he, at the very least, believed his statement to be true.

Gleen snarled at them, "That's not true! That's _not_ true! Savage is the one who told us how to get revenge, who showed us how to get enough of a foothold on this planet to be able to take that revenge. He was the one who –,"

He was interrupted by Roy who stated scathingly, "He was the one who hired Lobo to take your person. Lobo told us that he was hired by Savage to take the Krolotean when he was in his robot suit and to make a big show of it."

 _That_ cut Gleen right off, his expression slackening in horror. He shook his head firmly, fists clenching next to him, open and closed, open and closed. He obviously didn't want to believe them (who would?) but they _needed_ him to believe them.

M'gann spoke up, startling the rest of the people in the bioship, "I have found the prisoners! There are more than I had been expecting…" Wally glanced over her shoulder. His eyebrows rose in surprise. There were the Teen Titans, a little ruffed up around the edges, but nothing permanent, nothing worse than a couple little cuts. Prime Minister Tseng was in another one with two people that Robin's computer system idly recognized as Noor Harjavti (a political rival of Queen Bee's) and Bibbo Bibbowski (a seemingly unremarkable person… why would they have taken him?) and James Houston. There were other cages too, filled with random people. Robin's computer system identified them as government officials or news casters, people found all over the world.

Gleen spoke again from the screen, " _If_ I were to believe you – and I would check your claims first, what would you want from me?"

"We want the prisoners set free and we want information on Savage. We would be willing to offer as much aid as possible to your people and the people of Rimbor to help repair buildings and stimulate the economy," Kaldur answered, trying not to sound too excited. They still had to wait for Gleen to check their claims, but… but this was good. This was really, really good!

And then it got really, really bad when Robin finished his own scan, horror dripping from his words, "There's a bomb."

Wally felt as if the floor had dropped out from beneath his feet, "Where? How big? Can you stop it?"

"It's one big bomb that's composed of smaller units that are spread across the entire base. The entire building would blow. Possibly the nearby, thankfully abandoned buildings. I can't stop it," Robin finished, already standing up and tucking his computer away.

Cameron frowned, "The bigger question is how long we've got."

"Maybe two minutes," Robin said.

There was a pause, a microsecond of horror, and then Wally was bursting into action. He practically shouted down the mental link, _There's a bomb located through the entire building, set to blow in two minutes. You need to_ run _out of there, right this instant! I'm going to start working on getting the prisoners out._

 _I'll help you_ , Kaldur sent back, already running off from the group, leaving a horror struck Roy to explain the whole mess.

Billy added, _Me too. I'm one of the fastest here._

Wally wanted to argue that _both of them_ should stay in the bioship where they would be safe. But he couldn't do that. He'd need Billy's help to get everyone out and he understood Kaldur's need to free his best friend himself. Still frustrated him.

Instead of commenting on it and wasting precious time, Wally raced off, leaving M'gann behind to bring the bioship as close as possible, opening it up enough to get in all of the prisoners. Hopefully the Kroloteans had their own transport out. Wally didn't think they'd be able to get all of them.

Racing forward, Wally picked up Kaldur on the way to the cages, dropping him directly in front of the cage holding the Teen Titans. He didn't stop to listen to their conversation, instead going to the furthest cage, smashing at it at a high enough speed to break the lock before opening it, grabbing the first person before they could do more than make a token protest. Wally hoped the others had some sort of trash can for these poor people to throw up in once he set them down.

Quickly, carefully, Wally ran person after person back and forth between the cages and the bioship, Billy carefully bringing as many as he could in the time.

Finally, the only people who were left were the Teen Titans. Wally frowned to see that Kaldur was still struggling with the door. He glanced up at Wally helplessly, knuckles bruised where he'd taken to just hitting at the door, "I cannot open it. The metal is strong enough that not even Superboy would be able to break it or bend it. The lock is old fashioned, so little technology that Robin could not hack it, even if he were here and had the time. The lock must be highly strange in shape because I cannot pick it. I do not know how to get them out."

Wally opened his mouth (to say what? What could he say?) when Garfield spoke frantically into their minds, _Ten seconds until it blows!_

And Wally made his decision. The fact of the matter was that they weren't going to be able to stop the bomb before it blew. And they weren't going to figure out how to unlock this very complicated door in ten seconds, no matter how long Wally could stretch it. There was only one option.

So, Wally grabbed Kaldur and he _ran_ , leaving the Teen Titans behind.

KKKKKK

Kaldur would admit to being in something of a shock. He didn't register getting back to the bioship. He didn't register the bioship leaving. He's not entirely certain that he even registered the bomb going off although it surely must have rocked the bioship with how close they would have been.

He didn't register anything until he was in the infirmary in the headquarters, Dr. Thompkins carefully wrapping his knuckles in bandages and his shoulders in a shock blanket.

He blinked emptily into the silent infirmary. Or, no. There were sounds. Glassy eyes roamed around the room before he found Dick, Roy, and Wally sitting in a corner of the room, watching him worriedly. Their expressions were all grim. What… happened?

Kaldur's heart sunk as he remembered the last moments before the explosion. His hands shook as he remembered the fear he felt at seeing the likely impenetrable door. His body was out of the medical cot as he remembered Wally pulling him away from the explosion, from Garth.

Before he really registered what he was doing, he was across the room, lips pulled back into a snarl, fist snapping forward. He hadn't realized what he was doing until Wally's head snapped back, nose crunching, crown of his head smashing against the concrete wall behind him.

Roy and Dick were out of their seats in an instant, pulling Kaldur away from Wally, trying to gently settle him back on the cot. Kaldur only had eyes for Wally, though. The speedster was sitting unnaturally still, eyes dark and distant. He hadn't winced, hadn't blocked or avoided, hadn't uttered a noise as Kaldur punched him with all of his Atlantean strength. He'd just sat there, glassy-eyed as a delicate little doll.

He wasn't delicate, though. He was strong. He was a speedster! He could have _saved them_. He could have _saved Garth_. What was Wally doing, acting all depressed and moody? It wasn't his best friend that just blew up! It wasn't his best friend who'd died thinking he didn't trust him! It was _Kaldur's_ friend! _Garth_ was the one who died! What right did Wally have to be upset?

Especially, _especially_ when it was _his fault_. It was all his fault and Kaldur _burned_ at the knowledge that Garth's last vision of Kaldur was him _running away_. Wally had taken Kaldur away from his best friend when Kaldur could have been able to save him. He would have. He _would_. He just needed a couple seconds more! But Wally took that away. By _running_.

Once again, Kaldur was acting before the thought could cross his mind, acting off the hurt and the pain building in his chest. He was certain he was crying (when he had started? Had he ever stopped?) when he spat out, "Coward!"

Next to him, Dick and Roy stilled. Kaldur could briefly make out their wide eyes in the corner of his vision, but he ignored them. His hands shook as he shouted, "You are a _coward_ Wally West! You killed my best friend! You are a _coward_ and a _monster,_ and _you cannot save anybody_." He finished with a hiss, "I never want to see you again. Get out!"

When Wally still didn't move, that eerie stillness settling over him, Kaldur shouted again, "Get out! Get out, get out, get out!" He blinked and Wally was gone, nothing but lightning showing that he was ever really there.

And Kaldur broke down, chest heaving, tears falling, desperate whimpers permeating the air.

He wasn't sure how long it was until he'd settled. He knew that Dick and Roy stayed with him the whole time, arms wrapped around the shock blanket, tissues ready, water ever present.

Grief… grief was not an unknown concept for him (it rarely was for superheroes), but he had never felt it so keenly. Garth had been his best friend for, well, forever. He had stayed with Kaldur through thick and thin, through every little struggle and every triumph. Certainly, there were things they had needed to talk about – the amount of time Kaldur sent on the surface world, Garth's relationship with Tula, the entire mess that came with metahumans – but it wasn't anything they wouldn't have gotten through. They always made it through everything together.

Except, apparently, death.

Kaldur felt tears press at the corners of his eyes again at the thought. He shook them away, attempting to center himself. He needed to get control of himself. He needed to talk to people, to get the situations settled. A huge building in New Orleans just blew up and people would find alien wreckage at the bottom. A lot of missing people were about to be found. A lot of missing people were able to realize that they weren't missing but instead replaced. It was going to be a nightmare. Kaldur needed to get out and deal with it. He couldn't just wallow about in this medical ward.

Although, maybe, just this once he could leave it to others. He'd just lost his best friend. No one could blame him for taking a little time to himself. Besides, he had Wally now to… to…

No. No, he wouldn't have. Kaldur _couldn't_ have. Horror laced around the scratchiness of a post-breakdown voice as Kaldur croaked, "Please tell me that I did not punch Wally in the face before calling him a coward."

Dick winced, which was answer enough, before plowing on, "You called him a lot more things than just coward." Roy casually elbowed the younger boy in the stomach, shooting him a warning glare. Dick subsided with an apologetic glance in Kaldur's direction.

Groaning, Kaldur threw his head in his hands, "I cannot believe I did that or said those things. Wally did not deserve them. I need to speak with him as soon as possible."

Dick and Roy gave each other panicked looks before Roy asked, somewhat awkwardly, "Er, uh, don't you want to, well, stay here for a little bit? Rest and recover? Maybe talk a little bit? About what happened?"

"I can _talk_ about what happened just as easily after I have dealt with this _mess_ of a situation," Kaldur snapped. Dick and Roy gave each other mildly panicked looks again and Kaldur deflated, rubbing a hand over his face, "I am sorry. I did not mean to snap at you."

"Trust me," Dick laughed, a little bitter, a little hard, a little hysterical, "I understand why. Do whatever you need to do."

"I really do need to speak with Wally," Kaldur pointed out mildly.

Roy frowned disapprovingly at him, "You can do whatever you need to do _in here_."

"Then bring Wally _in here_ ," Kaldur threw back, determined to be stubborn about this. He really did need to apologize to Wally. As more memories of his actions after Garth's… come back, Kaldur felt his guilt increase. He'd called Wally a monster which was bad enough. What was worse, though, was that he'd told Wally that he couldn't save anyone. He _knew_ that Wally hated not being able to save everyone in his camp, hated not being able to save everyone they came across, hated when he couldn't _help_ people. He knew this because Wally had trusted him with the information. And all Kaldur had done with it was throw it back in his face as a way to hurt him. Kaldur was despicable.

Roy sighed, "I know you want to see him, but the fact of the matter is that you need to get your head on straight before you try to apologize to him. Cameron talked to us over the comms and told us that he didn't know what happened, but Wally shut down. He's gone all Ice Queen on everyone and is dealing with all the aforementioned messes. Well, apparently, he softened a little bit when he told Tula and, afterwards, the others about the death of the Teen Titans. I don't think the two of you should interact when you're both so emotional. I think it'll only make things worse."

Wally had shut down? Because of Kaldur? Garth would be so ashamed. Garth would be… Garth wouldn't be anything anymore. Kaldur felt a wave of tears attempted to swim to the surface. He refused. He was done crying. He'd gotten it out for now. He would hold everything else in until he avenged Garth, until he righted the wrongs that the Teen Titans were trying to fix. It was the least he could do.

Maybe Garth couldn't come to Kaldur about his role in the metahuman group. Maybe he couldn't even come to Kaldur with his ideas about metahumans. That was fine. That was all in the past now. What mattered was that Garth died for a mission, a mission to right the wrongs being done to metahumans throughout the world. Kaldur would finish that mission for him. He had to.

He'd cry when he was done.

So, Kaldur shook his head stubbornly, "Bring Wally here or I will get up and find himself myself."

Roy looked him in the eye, apparently trying to decide how serious Kaldur's threat was. After a second, he groaned angrily before shoving himself away from the bed, "Dick, get Kaldur changed into those comfort clothes he's got, get him some water, and try to get him to eat something. If he tries to leave this room, I swear to God, knock him out. Or I'll knock _you_ out. I'll go get Wally so the two of you can yell at each other." He stalked out of the room, practically radiating fury. Great, Kaldur had just angered another one of his friends. He was doing nothing but messing this situation up.

Dick carefully held out Kaldur's clothes, eyes big and wide from where he's apparently taken off his mask, "You did everything you could, Kaldur."

Closing his eyes even as he took the clothes and started stripping himself out of his uniform, Kaldur sighed, "I know. I do truthfully understand that even if it will take me a while to come to terms with it, but… although I did everything I could in the – the situation, I certainly managed to ruin everything else."

Dick frowned at him, "You were hurting, Kaldur. You're _still_ hurting. You can't be blamed for what you did."

"I cannot be blamed for taking out my guilt on my own dear friend? I cannot be blamed for worrying Roy? I think I can. Grief or not, I should not have allowed the situation to spiral so much. I… I used his own words, given to me in trust, against him, Dick. I hurt him," Kaldur finished softly, bowing his head over the soft shirt he'd shuffled into.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Dick crawled up into the bed with Kaldur, cuddling up against his side, "Friends hurt each other a lot. If they're true friends – which you and Wally _are_ and which I'm totally not jealous about, - then it's never done maliciously. The fact that you're so torn up about it says that you didn't do it maliciously. Wally will be alright. He's been through a lot in his life. A couple of words from someone who was grieving isn't going to send him off the deep end."

Kaldur wanted to say something in return, but a perfunctory knock at the door interrupted him. He carefully called the person in (Dick hastily throwing on a mask next to him) and felt his heart break when he saw Wally's face. It was, as Roy said, icy cold. Shut down. His eyes were blank, his expression smooth, and all that Kaldur could think about was the dead look in child-Wally's eyes when they rescued him from his mindscape.

Swallowing, Kaldur spoke into the cold silence of the air, "I wished to apologize to you for my actions earlier. They were uncalled for and my words were entirely false. Please believe me when I say that nothing I said then was true. You are not any of the things I called you."

The blankness didn't lift from Wally's eyes. His jaw clenched and he asked, "Is that it?" His hands were shaking.

Kaldur felt his heart break. Again. He wasn't sure how many more times it could shatter. All of the things he learned about metahumans, all of the interactions with the Circus had caused his heart to break over and over again for them. When would he stop feeling such crushing sadness for the horror that became of their lives?

Dick spoke into the silence voice hard, fire where Wally's voice had been ice, "Are you serious? He's trying to apologize! Have a little sympathy for him!"

"Robin…" Kaldur murmured, trying to stave off a fight.

Wally kept his jaw clenched, "I don't know what you want me to say, Robin. I've been working with the Teen Titans for over a year now, talking to them and helping them and being helped by them. They were friends. And I had to leave them for dead to save how I could. Just like I _always do_. Because I can't save anyone when it matters. Everything Kaldur said about me is true, so there's no point in him apologizing and no point in me accepting it. Now, I have things to do. Take as much time as you need, Kaldur." And then he was gone, a shower of lightning left behind again. Kaldur slumped on the bed, Dick's weight against his side being the only thing holding him up.

A tentative knock sounded at the door before either of them had a chance to say anything. Carefully, Cameron peaked his head in, "Wally's not in here, is he?"

"You just missed him. Literally seconds ago," Dick answered, fire still licking the edges of his words.

Cameron raised an eyebrow, "What'd he do this time? I swear, he should just go hide away in his room when he gets in moods like this. All he manages to do is stick his foot in his mouth." He stepped slowly into the room, putting a cautious hand on Kaldur's arm, pulling it away quickly, "I'm really, really sorry about what you had to go through. I wish there was something we could have done."

Kaldur bowed his head, but took the words and the light touch gratefully, "I thank you. I will grow through my grief. As for Wally… I am afraid I punched him and said awful things to him earlier. He seems to believe they were true. And I never… I never considered how difficult this must be for him, too. He lost an entire team of friends."

Surprisingly, Cameron's soft glance turned into a glare, "Never, _never_ compare trauma. Yeah, he lost a group of people he'd come to consider friends, but they weren't good friends. We never had enough time to interact for them to _really_ be good friends. They didn't even know our names. But you lost a best friend. Neither loss is greater than the other and don't try to pull that comparing stuff on me. All it does is lead to resentment. Grieve your losses and he'll grieve his."

His words startled a small laugh out of Kaldur (which, in turn, delighted Dick), "I suppose I had not thought of it that way. I will try to do better with that."

Cameron sniffed imperiously, "You better. Seriously though, don't worry about Wally. We've got him and this won't be the first time I've worked him through a mood like this. You focus on yourself. Do what you need to do to feel better. I… I couldn't imagine losing Wally, so… so I am truly sympathetic to your loss."

Looking down at his lap and swallowing painfully, Kaldur admitted quietly, "Garth was… he was always the more hot-tempered one of the two of us. He was brash and crazy and had more pride than I think he knew what to do with. I think… I think I would be able to accept his… I think I would be able to accept it easier if we had parted on better terms. If I could even _remember_ what my last words were to him. How long has it been since we have spoken face to face? I was emotional and hurt last time I saw him even though we parted amiably enough. It was a bland parting, though. I was too focused on my own decisions and on my own life to truly give him the care he deserved. Did I tell him that I cared about him? That I would miss him?"

Dick narrowed his eyes at him, "Did Garth not talk to you in, uh… in the cage?"

Cameron blinked, "They had to have said something, right? Did you mention the bomb at all?"

"I told them that there was a bomb and that I would get them out. The one I believe is called Starfire told the others to be quiet as I tried to help them escape," Kaldur answered, blinking at them. Why did they find this curious? Of course, they didn't know Garth. As hot tempered as he was, he was often quiet during stressful moments, preferring to only speak when he had something truly meaningful to say. Well, he was quiet when it was stressful for _him_. He had quite a different opinion on the meaning of stressful situation than most people.

Frowning, Cameron commented slowly, "That doesn't really sound like Starfire. As much as I knew her, she'd be shouting, 'Joyous day! Friend Atlantean has come to rescue us!' Or something to that effect. She was, uh, still working on her human skills."

Dick shrugged, "Stressful situation."

Cameron countered, "I've fought with her before. We've been in stressful situations. She's still weird."

"She'd also been held captive by tiny weird aliens known for their experimentation," Dick threw back. He and Cameron both blanched and glanced at Kaldur at the same time.

Kaldur's face paled, "They… do you think they would have experimented on them?"

Dick swallowed nervously, wringing his hands together. But Cameron looked over at him, expression set and serious and so very confident, "Starfire would _never_ let that happen. Even _if_ – and that's a big if! – these Kroloteans were prone to experimenting, Starfire would never let them experiment on anyone but her. Besides, their base was still rudimentary and in the process of being put together. I doubt they even had the supplies with them to do experiments on powered individuals. They probably thought it was best to keep the Teen Titans in a cage and leave it at that." Kaldur let out a sigh of relief, allowing his worries to fall from him.

There was another knock at the door. Next to him, Dick snickered, "You're popular today." Kaldur gave him a weary, sad smile in return.

Strangely enough, Roy and Wally walked through the door. Roy was glaring at anyone who dared to make eye contact, "I found Wally. Now you can talk, and he can leave."

Kaldur blinked, "I already talked to him."

Roy fully transferred his glare onto Wally, "Why didn't you tell me that?"

Wally growled back at him, "How was I supposed to know? You grabbed my arm, grunted at me, and yanked until I followed you!" Dick started snickering again. Even Cameron was trying his hardest to control his own smirk.

Growling back, Roy exclaimed, "We were heading towards the medical bay! How could you not have guessed?"

Dick stopped them before they went any further, "Wally, how did you know to come to talk to Kaldur?"

Wally raised an eyebrow, "Artemis said that she heard Lorraine talking about Roy looking for me. Before I could find Roy, Blue Beetle told me that Zatanna told him that Roy said that Kaldur wanted to see me. I figured I'd cut out the middleman and go see Kaldur."

Cameron laughed, "I am appalled at the rumor mill in this building." Wally didn't even crack a smile.

Roy growled, threw his hands in the air, and stalked over to a chair in the corner, silently fuming (read: pouting).

Wally narrowed his eyes after a second of silence, raising his hand to his comms unit, "Say again?" There was a pause as, presumably, the other voice answered before Wally sighed, "Yikes. I'll come pick you up."

He turned to the group as a whole, "That was one of my benefactors. He got outed as a meta and needs a quick getaway. He's at a safe house, so I'm going to go bring him to New Holo City."

Dick frowned, "Maxwell Lord got outed as a meta? That's going to cause a mess."

Roy gaped at them, "Maxwell Lord is one of your benefactors?" Kaldur frowned. The name sounded familiar…

Wally didn't answer, instead racing out of the room for the third time that day. Cameron sighed after him, rubbing his forehead in aggravation.

Kaldur looked at the rest of the occupants of the room, "Who is Maxwell Lord?"

KKKKKK

Koriand'r lounged gratefully on one of the many couches in this safe house. She was beyond thankful that Lord had led them out of the building without injury to any of them. Of course, there were still chances that this was some awful trap, but that was alright. For the moment at least. They needed some rest and recovery. Koriand'r knew that the metas were always slow to regain their powers after getting inhibitor collars removed and she wanted to give them as much time as they needed to feel fully comfortable with their powers.

Besides, it didn't seem like Lord was going to betray them. He actually seemed like a legitimate metahuman. Of course, he hadn't talked about what organization took them or what he was doing there. Had he been a hidden metahuman? What kind of organization doesn't test its members for the metahuman gene? That was almost a standard practice nowadays (although, luckily, one that was falling out of favor as more pro-meta sentiments grew). But Lord said that he wasn't going to explain everything twice and that they should wait for Supersonic to arrive.

It would be good to see Supersonic again. Maybe Koriand'r could get some of the truth about the recent gossip in the metahuman world.

Her thoughts apparently drew him there because just seconds after Koriand'r finished her thought, Supersonic blurred into existence in the middle of the room. Koriand'r smiled at the predictability of his actions.

She lost the smile, however, when his face contorted into a snarl at the sight of the Teen Titans sat around the living room. Lord blinked at him in confusion, "Supersonic… are you alright?"

"These are not the Teen Titans," Supersonic answered.

Koriand'r glanced at the rest of her team at confusion. They weren't… what? What was he saying? Lord laughed nervously, "C'mon, kid. You know I'm better at my job than that. I know the people I'm supposed to rescue when I rescue them."

Supersonic shook his head, "You don't understand, those can't be the Teen Titans. I just watched the Teen Titans die earlier this afternoon. Those are Kroloteans. They have to be."

"The Krolo... whats?" Cyborg said, voice pitching up at the end in confusion.

Supersonic snarled at them again, "Show yourselves. The rest of the Kroloteans are dead, so you've got no one to protect. Gleen didn't believe us about the bomb threat and kept all his people there to get blown up."

Koriand'r blinked. Raven tried to reason, tried to hold on to her calmness, "Supersonic. We don't know who Gleen is or what a Krolotean is."

Narrowing his eyes, Supersonic jerked his head towards Koriand'r, "Kroloteans don't bleed because they're just a tiny alien in a big robot suit. Show me that you bleed."

"Are you asking me to harm myself?" Koriand'r asked, taken aback, "Friend Supersonic, surely there is a better way."

"Show me. That you. Can bleed," Supersonic gritted out, fists clenching and feet shifting.

Even though the rest of the group cried out to her to stop, Koriand'r grabbed the closest sharp thing she could before drawing a line across her palm. She watched Supersonic's face as he avidly watched the blood well on her hand.

Abruptly, he sat down hard, causing Lord to jump up as if to catch him. Supersonic yanked at his hair, "What is _going on_?"

"I have to admit, we're a little confused too," Karen stated, eyebrow raised. Jericho stood up and walked over to Supersonic, patting his shoulder lightly.

Donna asked carefully, "So… we died today?"

Supersonic grimaced, "In a flaming ball of fire. Explosion. It was awful. I was traumatized." He was mostly joking in that odd way of his, but he was also partially serious and Koriand'r's heart ached at the thought that he'd been mourning them.

Garth sat up suddenly, "Wait, who thinks we are dead? Lord over here said that you guys, the Team, the Justice League, and a bunch of others were looking for us. Who knows we are dead?"

"I mean, the entirety of the Circus and then the Team. I'm not sure who members of the Team told, if any. There's another group that probably knows some about it just from people confiding in them," Supersonic answered carefully.

Throwing his face in his hands, Garth groaned, "What are the odds that my girlfriend has found out already?"

Supersonic grimaced again, "Ah, actually, your girlfriend joined the Team as Aquagirl. I had to tell her that you died. It wasn't the most thrilling experience in my life." Garth groaned again.

Donna's mouth gaped open, "Wait! Does Wonder Woman know then?"

"I mean, I had to tell the new maybe temporary Wonder Girl who also joined the Team, so she's probably told Wonder Woman at this point, yeah," Supersonic answered. Donna joined Garth in groaning pitifully.

"So, we're all screwed," Cyborg said frustratedly.

Supersonic raised an eyebrow, "Well, it's hardly our fault! We saw you and we saw you blow up. What else were we going to think?"

"Why didn't you assume that those ones were these Kroloteans you mistook us for in the beginning?" Raven asked.

"Because those Teen Titans were being held captive by the Kroloteans," Supersonic answered. He paused for a second before continuing, urged on by their confused expressions. He explained the circumstances of Loren Jupiter's death (Lord's comment about it hadn't processed when they were escaping, but it was processing now and Koriand'r knew she'd need somewhere to cry out her grief at losing the man who was like a friend and a father to all of them. He told about the arrest of James Houston and the discovery of Kroloteans. He expanded on the positions taken over by the Kroloteans and the kidnapping of one by Lobo. He went over their own deaths and the bomb that had taken out the majority of the Kroloteans, including their leader.

Isaiah sighed in aggravation, "There is still a lot that we don't know. This whole situation is messed up. What have you guys gotten into that all this has happened?"

Supersonic sighed, suddenly looking ten times older than he was (it was a look that he wore often, but never got easier to look upon), "Have you guys heard of the Light? No? Well, that's going to take a whole lot of explaining on its own. We can talk about that later. What we need to talk about now is what we're going to do with all of you."

"They could come to the city with me," Lord suggested. He smiled ruefully, "Somehow, I've grown attached to these runts."

"Ah," Supersonic started, looking uncomfortable, "The city's only for metas. No non-metas allowed, even temporarily. I'd only be able to host Jericho, Hot Spot, and Pantha and even then, they'd have to keep everything they saw a secret. It wouldn't be fair to them."

Lord frowned, "Well then, don't bother taking me to the city either. Like I said, I've grown attached. I want to make sure they get somewhere safe, somewhere the Light won't mess with them anymore. Even if that means taking down the Light."

Supersonic nodded to him approvingly, "Right, okay. How about this? Right now, there's a fairly large joint operation working on taking down the Light and making the world a better place for metas. The Justice League, the Team, the Circus, another group that I won't name now for privacy reasons, and any off-shoots, benefactors, or friends of those groups are all working together, sharing information and sharing jobs to get this problem solved. Does that sound like something you're interested in joining?"

"Would they let us join?" Isaiah asked archly, never one to look at an offer of friendship without suspicion.

"Please," Supersonic said, "They'll be so excited you're alive that they'd let you do anything."

Koriand'r looked around at her people, gauging from their expressions what they felt on this issue. Would they help Supersonic or would they find something else to do?

In the end, there was only ever one answer Koriand'r could give. She looked at Supersonic and said, "Friend Supersonic, we will fight with you."

 **Author's Note: This chapter came out a lot better than past ones have. That was much better. I enjoyed writing this chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	56. Chapter 56

**Author's Note: Here's another chapter! Read, review, and enjoy!**

WWWWWW

Wally hadn't been sure how to introduce the Teen Titans into the alliance. On the one hand, calling the others over the comms and telling them that the Teen Titans were alive felt a little impersonal. On the other hand, he didn't want to just throw suddenly living friends at people without any warning.

In the end, he picked the people he felt would most want to see the Teen Titans, individually contacted each of them, and told them to meet him in a certain room of the HQ at a time later that night. He finished with a call to Batman and Superman since, although they weren't really close to the Titans, they were pretty involved in the search. The moment Batman picked up the phone, Wally started speaking, "Hey, are you and Superman free at 10:30 tonight?"

" _Why?_ " Batman growled.

Wally rolled his eyes, "That was really more of a yes or no question. But to answer yours, I've got something to tell you guys along with a couple others." He could _feel_ the depression in Batman's sigh after his comment, and Wally hastened to say, "It's a good thing! Finally."

Batman sighed again before answering shortly, " _We'll be there._ " The phone clicked off. What a douche.

Wally scrubbed over his face, trying to ignore the pull of tiredness. He should probably eat something soon. He'd given away a portion of his lunch and hadn't even finished the bits he'd saved for himself and he hadn't eaten anything since.

Koriand'r glanced up at him, "Good news?"

He nodded, "Yeah. Everyone will be there. At least, everyone we want for the initial meeting. The rest can just be told. We'll figure out what your role in this whole mess will be. We probably won't want you to be doing anything big. As far as I can tell, Savage took you guys so he could make us think that you were dead after the Kroloteans blew up. He wasn't planning for Max's interference. Hopefully, if we pretend to continue to mourn and don't let you guys get spotted by anyone, then we can make Savage think that we're still compromised even though you guys escaped."

"Does he know that Lord is one of your beneficiaries?" Koriand'r asked, sending a concerned glance towards the man in question. Wally glanced over too. Max was in an animated, friendly argument about some environmental policy with Cyborg.

Wally didn't even want to think about what the Teen Titans would do once they'd avenged Loren by defeating the Light. If the Team or the Justice League didn't take them in, then they were stranded. Their main benefactor had been killed, his operations thrown into the spotlight. They could never return. At least, they couldn't return so long as there were any anti-meta sentiments in place. The Circus could try to take them in, but… Wally didn't know. It probably wouldn't work too well if they did that. The Titans and the Circus were better as individual groups. Plus, Wally was still working on moving funding around. Batman's contributions were incredible, but they'd just lost Max's fortune. He'd managed to get a good chunk of hard cash before he went on the run, but his information was frozen now and his other assets unreachable. It was a tough loss, especially after making an entirely new city.

Wally sighed. Nothing was ever easy, was it?

Koriand'r smiled at him, laughing a little bit into her palm, "You always look so angry."

Snorting a little bit and rolling his eyes, Wally commented, "I get that a lot. Maybe if people would stop making me so angry…"

Koriand'r laughed again, "At least now, you're more willing to joke. As angry as you always look, you _feel_ happier. I'm glad. You deserve it." She beamed at him.

Wally gave her a soft smile in response, "Thanks, Kori. Working with the Team has… helped. I think you'll like them."

"Why do you think it helped to work with the Team?" Koriand'r asked curiously. She sent a small glance over towards where her three metas were poking at their own abilities testing the stretch and pull of them after so long in inhibitor collars. Wally knew that she was wondering if she'd be able to help them after so long being hated by others.

Shrugging a little helplessly, Wally guessed, "Maybe it's just because of who they are. I mean, heroes are the natural enemies of underground metahuman groups. We're labelled as terrorists, right? And the heroes have been hunting us as long as they knew of us. And… the heroes are representation of good people, of people who should have helped us but didn't – for good reason, of course. They didn't know. But, being around them? Getting to know them? Being _accepted_ by them? I think that did more to help me heal than anything else. It's… nice to be around humans and not be afraid. Weird feeling, but nice."

There was a soft, sad looking smile on Koriand'r's face when she looked at him again, "One day, the entire world will be like them."

Wally shifted a little uncomfortably. Koriand'r wasn't meant to wear such a sad smile. He tried to shift the topic to something a little happier, "There's someone on the Team who I think you'll get along great with. It's Martian Manhunter's niece. She _loves_ to bake. She especially loves to try to make Martian-Earth fusion meals which I know you can relate to. Maybe you two can get real creative and make Martian-Earth-Tamaranian meals. That would be intense."

Koriand'r giggled again, some of the sadness drifting away with the sound, "Yes, that would be most marvelous! I look forward to meeting these Team members. I look forward to seeing Martian Manhunter again as well. He was very helpful in helping me acclimate to this world. And I hope to meet this mysterious other group that you will not tell us about."

Wally laughed a little, "Yeah, they're real secretive. They're actually another underground meta group, but they were so underground that I didn't even know about them. But they're great. I'm glad we found them."

Donna interrupted their conversation, calling out to the room as a whole, "Hey, shouldn't we get going? Don't want to be late to our own meeting. That'd be awkward."

"That certainly would be awkward," Wally smiled, leaning over to check his shoes really quick. When he leaned back up, he had to blink at all the incredulous looks he was getting, "What?"

Pantha stuttered out, "Y-you… you _smiled_."

Wally rolled his eyes, sighing aggressively, "Yes, yes, I know. I _am_ capable of smiling, you know? It's not that hard of a skill and I have mastered it. I know I don't smile _that often_ , but it's not _that weird_."

"Someone's defensive," Cyborg muttered from his side of the room. Wally glared at him as aggressively as he could through the tinted goggles he wore. Sighing at the unrepentant look he received in return, Wally figured he might as well just start bringing everyone over. As quickly as he could, he rushed forward and grabbed Cyborg.

If he was a little less gentle about the run and subsequent drop off than he could have been, then no one had to know.

It didn't take him long to get everyone over to the Team headquarters (even Max, who had insisted that he stay with the Titans), but they were still barely all set up in the side room before people started streaming into the main meeting room. It wasn't that big of a group, leaving plenty of space in the room for the Titans to comfortably greet their families.

When everyone had gathered (Wally had even managed to work it so Dr. Stone and Mal Duncan could be there in the meeting room to witness the return of their loved ones), Wally stepped forward to get their attention. He cleared his throat before giving them a little smile, "For once, I'm actually calling a gathering for good news. One of my benefactors had to make a quick escape after being revealed as a meta and he wanted to meet so I could bring him somewhere safe. The good news, however, is who he brought with him when he made his quick escape." There was a level of curiously swirling around the room, trying to penetrate the thick grief that clung over the people.

With that little smile still on his face, Wally dramatically swung his hand out towards the door, "May I introduce to you, the _real_ Teen Titans." People didn't even have time to let their jaws drop before the Titans were streaming out of the door, throwing themselves towards their families.

Wally watched Karen run full force into her fiancé Mal, nearly knocking him over even though he was three times her size. Cyborg and Dr. Stone did a nice little awkward hug that was probably further than they'd ever gotten in their relationship, so that was nice. J'onn clapped a comforting hand on Koriand'r's shoulder before she surprised him by dragging him into an enthusiastic hug. Donna and Diana gave each other a formal warrior's handshake before pulling each other into a hug that would have _crushed_ a normal person. And Garth… he was _swarmed_ by Kaldur and Tula, tears bursting from both of them as they smushed Garth between them, King Arthur laughing uproariously in the background, a soft, caring hand placed at the shoulders of his charges as they sobbed with happiness.

Raven, Jericho, Pantha, and Hot Spot slithered towards the side of the room, glancing out at the others with suspicion, but luckily Max made his way over to them and drew them into a conversation, trying to keep them happy during the happy moment.

Wally felt his smile grow even larger.

Batman and Clark made their ways over towards him, weaving their way through the joyous reunions. Clark was beaming around him, clearly caught up in the moment. Even Batman looked a little happy at the moment – just a little, mind.

Batman stopped right next to Wally, standing almost shoulder to shoulder with him, "Maxwell Lord was one of your benefactors, huh?"

Wally smirked, "Yep."

"And he managed to find the Teen Titans and get them out of wherever they were?" Batman clarified.

"Yep!" Wally chirped.

There were definite hints of a smile on Batman's face when he wondered aloud, "I wonder what made him start to look for the Titans. Maybe someone gave him a hint, let him know that he was probably in a good position to search for the Teen Titans based on his job with the government."

Wally laughed, loud and bright, clearly startling some of the other people in the room, "Yeah, maybe someone did that."

Clark smiled down at him, shaking his head fondly, "Now, I wonder who that would have been."

"I guess we'll never know," Wally responded cheerfully. Clark dissolved into laughter next to him.

Batman sighed out a little almost-laugh, "Somehow, you never fail to surprise me."

Before Wally could respond, Kaldur walked up to him. Garth, Tula, and Arthur trailed behind him like they couldn't bear to be any further apart. Kaldur reached out a hand and Wally took it slightly bemused. Kaldur clasped it with his other hand, looking at him with bright, serious eyes, "Supersonic you… you brought my best friend back. I could never have asked for more. Even after all those awful things I said to you earlier today. Please forgive and please, please, _please_ accept my thanks. I could not ask for a better co-leader, comrade, or _friend_."

A little embarrassed at the attention, Wally rubbed the back of his neck, "I really, really didn't do anything. Max was the one who saved them. He gave up his job and his, well, his life to save them. He's the one who deserves your thanks."

Garth gave him a wide, amused smile, "Please, we all know whose orders Lord was working under. The first place he went was to one of _your_ safe houses and the first person he called was you. He said you'd kill him if he left that prison without us. He certainly deserves our thanks, but you deserve a large portion of it yourself."

Mortifyingly enough, Wally could feel his cheeks heat up, turning a likely unattractive shade of pink. The thought of that only made him blush harder, causing a bright laugh to fly around the room. Apparently the Atlanteans had caught the attention of the rest of the room so everyone had seen him blushing. Fantastic. Because that's how things always worked out for Wally.

He scowled at Garth, "You be quiet. Go talk to Max. Or to Kaldur or Tula. Go away." Garth just laughed at him again.

Wally rolled his eyes, turning back towards Batman who was possibly his own source of sanity in this situation.

Except he _wasn't_. Batman was honestly _smirking_ at him. The world was ending.

And then it really did feel like the world was ending because two incredibly strong arms wrapped around him from behind and lifted him clean off the ground. Wally would willingly admit that he squeaked when he was picked up and crushed against a _very_ feminine chest. That cursed blush came back again.

After a few minutes of what essentially amounted to aggressive cuddling, Diana put him down and spun him around. Diana leaned down and kissed him right in the forehead, hands still grasping his shoulders. Her eyes were shining as she announced, "I can never repay you for what you have done, Supersonic. I am beyond grateful for this, for the act of returning a loved one to my side. All other Amazonians and I will be forever indebted to you."

Despite himself, Wally felt tears push at the corners of his eyes (thank goodness for the goggles covering _that_ up). It had, admittedly, been an emotional day. First, he'd been thrilled at the thought of finding a friend in Jaime. Then he'd left what he believed to be the Titans behind to die. Then he'd mourned the Titans. Then Kaldur had punched him and called him… yeah. Then the Titans ended up being alive! And then he'd been witnessed to this beautifully touching reunion. Wally felt justified in being a little emotional by the end of all of that.

After another few long minutes, Batman called the group to attention, directing them towards the previously neglected table to continue their meeting. He announced gravely, "With all of your permissions, I would ask that you save the rest of your reunion for later. As for now, we need to focus on our advantage here. I want to call in the Team and the Circus to this meeting. The Justice League and the Alliance will be filled in on the rest of the situation later since we don't have the time to gather all of them now." Everyone nodded to them, hands grasped and expressions bright with joy.

Quickly, Batman called in the Team members even as Wally called in his Circus. They waited as, one by one, the members of both groups trickled in.

It was beautiful to see the joy-tinged shock on each person's face as they entered. Garfield started crying, grateful tears slipping down his face as he immediately ran over to Cyborg, engulfing him in a huge hug, laughing. Roy and Robin pulled chairs over by Kaldur, squeezing his shoulder comfortingly and sharing awkward smiles with Garth. Jinx settled quietly next to Raven, the two girls sharing their own quiet smiles. Dinah started crying, too, limping over to Koriand'r and Jericho, pulling them down onto her shoulders, whispering quietly to them. It made Wally's heart soar.

It was Lorraine who eventually broke the quiet of the room, "I am _beyond_ happy, but I'm also really confused."

Wally snorted lightly and was about to start explaining things, but Max moved in front of him before he could speak. There was a ripple of shock through the group, eyes growing wide as some people recognized the man in front of them. Dinah gaped at him, but it was Hal who choked out, "What is _he_ doing here?"

Karen blinked curiously between Hal and Max, "He's the one who saved us."

" _He_ did?" Oliver asked incredulously, "He's, like, as anti-metahuman as you could possibly get."

Max laughed, settling a hand over his heart, "I'm sure that's how it seemed, but I swear I'm not actually anti-metahuman." He paused for a moment before slyly continuing, "It would be rather ironic if I _was_ anti-meta, seeing as I'm a metahuman myself." He was met with shocked silence. Even _Batman_ was visibly shocked.

Max laughed again before explaining, "I manifested the ability of telepathic persuasion right around when anti-meta legislature was starting to be passed. Unfortunately, I manifested it in a rather public way _right_ in front of Amanda Waller. We were interrogating some people and, bam, power activated. She saw use for me, though. Apparently. She killed everyone who witnessed my powers and has been helping me get passed the meta checks through the years. Waller also knows that as soon as the Circus popped up, I was working for and funding them, but she never found a reason to stop that. Just like she never found a reason to stop my actions to try to make things easier on metas. I know it doesn't seem like I was working towards better lives for metas. Not when I'm in charge of two anti-metahuman taskforces. But I've really been trying to minimize the damage to good metas and try to stop bad metas before they further sullied the image of metahumans.

"I was already starting to get near the end of my time there when I started looking into connections between Argus and the Collection Agency – and therefore the Light, - so when Supersonic asked me to look around for the Titans while I was at it, I figured that about the end. I got my things together and gathered some last minute information. I ended up finding the Teen Titans at one of Argus's secure bases. It was actually in one of the joint Checkmate-Argus bases, which made me furious. I help the Titans out. We went to one of Supersonic's hideouts. I called Supersonic. He brought us back. After accusing the Titans of being Kroloteans, of course," Max finished, sending Wally a fondly amused look. Wally rolled his eyes under his goggles.

Kaldur blinked in surprise, "I would not have even thought to check that if they were Kroloteans."

"Well, I spent most of this afternoon directing people back into their lives and apprehending the Kroloteans that had replaced them, so the idea was kind of right there," Wally admitted, shrugging a little bit. It really had been appalling how many people the Kroloteans had managed to replace. It made him wonder what Savage had been planning to do with all of them.

Batman nodded gravely to them, "I will get that information from you after this meeting. I'll give it to the Circus, the Team, and the Alliance."

"Ah, just a question," Donna asked, slightly raising a hand, "Who is the Alliance?"

"Right!" Cameron said, smiling at her, "You guys weren't here for all of that. They're another metahuman organization. They're mostly focused on getting information and using that information to destroy anti-metahuman campaigns and organizations. They've helped us a bit and have dedicated themselves to the cause of stopping Savage. You'll probably meet them at some point, and they'll be able to do more introductions, but their leader is a speedster like Supersonic. His name is Flash. He's great. You guys will love him."

"There are more speedsters?" Raven asked incredulously. Well, as incredulously as she could.

Dinah laughed, "That's how we felt. A little horrifying, isn't it? Two speedsters." She shook her head mockingly, ignoring Wally's glare.

Lorraine leaned over to look at Pantha, Raven, and Koriand'r, "We have _so much_ gossip to catch you up on." Koriand'r gave her a frankly terrifying grin in return. Wally thought it was supposed to be an excited grin, but it mostly just looked scary.

Clark clapped his hands together, "That was most of the information that we needed. All of you deserved to be informed as soon as possible about the survival of the Teen Titans and we needed to know what Maxwell Lord was doing working with the metas. It is good to know where the Teen Titans escaped from. It is also good to know that we have another group to aid us in our fight. We will get the information from Lord and transfer it out to all the others groups. As for the rest of you, I suggest that you get to bed. There are plenty of beds here if you don't want to try to get home now. The Teen Titans will be staying here at the headquarters since their home is, uh, unavailable at the moment. Please welcome them into your home."

Hal groaned from the back, "I know that Black Canary and Ballistic are adults, too, but this is starting to get ridiculous. Red Tornado and I are the only official den mothers of this entire group and it's not fair. There are two of us – maybe four if you consider Black Canary and Ballistic. And I don't because Ballistic is at New Holo City half the time and Black Canary is with Green Arrow half the time. So, there are two of us looking after _nineteen_ teenagers. And now you're adding nine more? Is this a boarding school or a headquarters? Give me more adults to hang out with!"

The group erupted into laughter.

The meeting pretty much devolved from there, falling into smaller conversations, some people leaving. Oliver left with Dinah on his arm which Wally really, really didn't want to think about. Wonder Girl and Donna left with Diana, the two younger girls whispering together. It was good to see that Donna didn't seem to have any issues with Wonder Girl using her old name. M'gann was leading Koriand'r and Pantha towards the kitchen, presumably to grab a little snack before they headed to bed. Conner trailed after them, Clark catching up after a moment to talk to him for a moment before leaving. Batman swept out of the room with Robin and Batgirl on his heels, Artemis following after a second. Jinx and Raven glided toward the bedrooms. Garfield gathered all the remaining teenaged boys (aside from Wally, Kaldur, and Garth) and herded them off towards his room, Kelvin following bemusedly.

Everyone else drifted off to who knows where, little clumps of people leaving as the room emptied out. Wally stayed in the room as Max uploaded something onto the computer that Batman had pointed out. He figured he'd stay there and then get Max to a room before he went to bed himself. He was wiped.

Max was still uploading the information when someone stopped in front of Wally. The speedster looked up to see that the room had cleared out, leaving only him, Max, and Kaldur.

Kaldur was stood in front of him, eyes puffy with tears, but a smile stretched across his face. Wally's lips attempted a smile, but the words of earlier in the day echoed through his mind and stopped him from fulling smiling, "What's up? I thought you'd be with Garth."

Kaldur smiled softly, glancing towards the door wistfully, "Garth and I will have time for our conversation and our renewed friendship tomorrow. Tonight, he wishes to spend the night with his girlfriend, to reassure himself and her that he is alright."

"Ah, makes sense," Wally said, starting to feel an awkwardness in the air. What else could Kaldur want? He'd already apologized and thanked Wally. There really wasn't much else to do.

Except… Kaldur leaned over and drew Wally into a tight hug. For a long moment (too long, really. Why was Wally so bad with dealing with people? He wished he was better. He wished he was better at a lot of things…), Wally sat there, tense and unsure. After the moment started dragging on, Wally pulled himself out of his frozen state, carefully wrapping his own arms around Kaldur's back. When Kaldur's grip tightened, Wally relaxed into the hold, dropping his forehead onto Kaldur's shoulder.

Sometimes, once he got used the feeling, once he trusted the person, hugs could actually be nice.

Still, Wally blushed again and stuttered out, "Aqualad? H-hey, what's wrong?" Max snorted behind them and Wally resisted the urge to give him the finger.

Kaldur pulled back, gripping Wally's shoulders and looking him over in much the same way as Diana had earlier that night. He smiled at Wally, "I was wondering if I might keep the two of you company until you went to bed." He turned to fully look at Wally, some of his smile falling away, "I have a lot to repent for in regard to my behavior today. I hope to start now."

"You really, really don't have anything to repent for or whatever," Wally said, sighing as he settled into a chair, gesturing for Kaldur to take the other one, "Honestly. You were grieving and you said some things. It's not the worst thing a friend's done to me in a bad time." He frowned as he thought of Jinx in that room, expression blank as she… But there were other times, too. Times at the camps. Not everyone could keep their sanity in a place like that and, sometimes, even without powers, some of the metas were powerful. Wally had seen others snap and start beating others up. He'd seen them _kill_ each other. The camps weren't as unified as they could have been; there were still disputes and crimes. Normally, though, metas who committed crimes in the camps disappeared pretty quickly. No one was sure if they were killed or used for something else. Wally wasn't really sure he wanted to know.

Kaldur gave him big, sad eyes like the adorable sea puppy he secretly was, "I understand that you feel that way, but I do not. Please allow me to alleviate my guilt."

Wally sighed out a laugh, shaking his head, "Yeah, okay. Whatever."

Max was raising an eyebrow at them by the time Wally turned his attention back to the other meta. Wally dropped the little smile he'd had, scowling at the man, "What?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Max defended, raising his hands before turning back to the computer, "It's just nice seeing you get along with others so well."

Wally scowled harder, "You're as bad as the Titans! I smiled and they all about froze they were so shocked. I can smile and have friends and stuff!" He could feel his scowl getting worse as he spoke. Kaldur and Max shared a momentary sly look before they both burst into laughter. Wally threw his hands in the air and gave up.

VVVVVV

Vandal stalked around his war room, ignoring the quivering _fool_ edging subconsciously towards the door. _How_ could this have happened? How could the Teen Titans have escaped?

Sighing, Vandal touched his fingers to his forehead. That was a stupid question. He _knew_ how they escaped. That _boy_ , Supersonic, had made more connections, more powerful allies than Vandal had predicted. How was Vandal to know that there was a secret benefactor that Supersonic hadn't told Jinx about? He'd managed to force her to give up the rest of the names, but she hadn't known this one, apparently.

Maxwell Lord. His castle of lies, his web of influence, his powerful connections were strong enough that Vandal had never even _thought_ to look at him as anything other than a potential pawn. Lord was supposed to be someone who Vandal could use to make life for metahumans even harder than it was. He was supposed to be someone who Vandal could manipulate into enacting further stages of his plans.

He was _not_ supposed to be a secret metahuman working for the Circus on the sly.

 _How_ did Supersonic gather so many people to him? What did he have that allowed him to build such an enormous force? Vandal had seen the ripples, had heard the rumors. He knew that the full force of countless organizations was coming down on him, trying to undermine his work, trying to ferret him out.

Let them try, Vandal thought, regaining his composure. Let them try to take him out, to stop his purpose. As far as he was concerned, these developments were only helping him. They were making him smarter, making him _stronger_. It was good to have difficult opponents. His final opponent would be the hardest of all and Vandal needed to be prepared. Let Supersonic and his endless host of enamored followers try to stop him.

The Teen Titans might have escaped after Vandal worked so hard to fake their death, but they were still in hiding as far as he could see. All of the _heroes_ were still in mourning, depression stretching across their faces. As long as Vandal found those Titans _before_ the heroes did, then his plan would still be working. The heroes would be off-balance from the deaths and they'd be more focused on revenge than actual strategy and plans. This would work in Vandal's favor. It was far too late for anything else. His plans would work.

Vandal took another deep breath, further calming himself. He glanced again at the quivering mess of a guard. He was the one who let the Titans escape. As much as it still worked in Vandal's favor, that was an unforgivable error. The guard's next mistake might not be so palatable.

Vandal waved a hand dismissively, ignoring the sound of the guards screaming as Vandal's warriors took him away to be killed. Mistakes were not to be allowed.

 **Author's Note: I guess I'll stop here. I think I intended to go further, but I got to this point and just really felt like this was a good stop. Thanks for reading!**


	57. Chapter 57

**Author's Note: IMPORTANT! Okay, I have finished season 3 of Young Justice! Please DO NOT put spoilers in the reviews. If you want to talk to me about YJ S3, then PM me, please. So, that being said, for those of you who read my other works, now that I've watched season 3, I am going to go back and reread Rogue's Status and start working on the legit sequel (plus add a little to the middle, bonus story). ONE OTHER THING! Shout out to all of you who were/are at Dragon Con this weekend! If you went, let me know what your favorite part was! My favorite was a talk about the Genetics of Harry Potter that my best friend and I went to (even if the parade and the orchestra were very, very amazing as well). Alright, read, review, and enjoy!**

KKKKKK

Kaldur looked on in curiosity as Wally and Max worked on planting false trails for, well, _everyone_ to follow. Interwoven in some of the false trails were traps. Hopefully, Max theorized, they would be able to trap someone important in Savage's organization and this hunt could finally be over. Kaldur would like that. It would be good to finally be able to stop worrying about Savage and start to focus on fixing the problems that Savage's machinations had created.

He glanced up in surprise when there was a burst of wind and sparks of bright lightning. Kaldur blinked at Max, "Where is he going?"

"Apparently someone needed to talk to him at New Holo City. He said not to worry about it. He looked more exasperated than upset. He seems constantly busy," Max finished with, eyebrow raised at the door Wally had disappeared out of.

Kaldur gave the same door a fond glance, "He is. Supersonic is involved in so many activities and groups that I am surprised he is able to keep up with it." Kaldur had been surprised when he'd realized that the Teen Titans and Max didn't know his identity. He didn't know why he was so surprised – it had been a battle for Kaldur to get that much of Wally's trust. Maybe he just assumed that since Max was a metahuman and the Titans were a metahuman resistance group that they were more likely to get his trust. Wally certainly seemed more comfortable among metahumans.

But when he thought about it more, Kaldur didn't know where that thought came from. He'd never seen Wally trust his identity with others. Of course, the Alliance knew about his secret identity, but that was less trusting and more shock at finding a long-lost family member.

Kaldur smiled as he thought of Wally and Barry. The two were certainly getting closer, slowly but surely. From what Kaldur had heard, Barry, Iris, Cameron, and Wally had instigated a weekly family meal. Kaldur had actually used that as inspiration, asking Garth and Tula if they wished to do the same thing. They had accepted and Kaldur looked forward to their second one later that week. Of course, with the three of them living at the headquarters, it wasn't too difficult to have regular meals together, but there was something different about bringing the food into one of their rooms and eating, just the three of them, without interruptions.

Max's voice interrupted his thoughts, "We've caught someone in one of our traps!"

Kaldur's head whipped up, "Which one? How many have you caught?"

"I'm sending you the coordinates and I'm not sure how many I've caught. It looks like three, but there could be others waiting outside. We were setting up basic traps and then we were going to add more tech later," Max said, typing on his computer as quickly as he could.

Kaldur nodded to him, moving over to a computer and hitting an alarm. There were surprisingly few people still left at the headquarters at this time. Some Team members were still in after-school activities. The Titans, although laying low, had gone out to Loren Jupiter's grave site to pay their respects. A lot of the Circus members were at Alliance headquarters across the world, working with them on various projects. Hal was off-world, dealing with something on Oa. No one was expecting a battle that day.

Kaldur frowned, "I will just have to call upon whoever is here. Please keep us updated on the state of the trap while we deal with the situation." Max nodded to him seriously, pulling up several screens.

He ran to the meeting room, quickly counting heads once he got there. Conner, Robin, and Artemis. Kaldur would have liked more people to go with him, but if that was all he was getting, then that was what he was going to have to work with.

Motioning for them to follow, he made his way to the hangar where Sphere was resting, "Max and Wally have laid traps for people who are attempting to find the Teen Titans and Maxwell Lord. A trap has been activated. We will investigate. There are three known adversaries in the building, but there is a potential for more enemies in the surrounding area."

"And it's only going to be the four of us?" Artemis asked incredulously.

Kaldur frowned, "I am afraid that no one else can get here quickly enough. We do not know if the enemy knows that they tipped us off or not. We need to get there soon enough to prevent them from escaping." They all moved towards Sphere, watching as it expanded into a vehicle. They got into it quickly, imputing the coordinates and starting off on the journey.

"Do we know who it is that's there? Like, Collection Agency? Argus? Light? None of the above? Who are we looking at?" Dick asked.

"I have no idea," Kaldur frowned.

WWWWWW

Wally was more than a little frustrated when Cameron Chase (the meta with the ability to negate others' powers) called and said that there was a situation in New Holo City that required her attention. She'd assured him that it wasn't that big of a problem and that she just needed his secondary opinion, in person.

It was a weird request and not one that Wally had ever received from a resident of Holo City before, but Wally figured that the situation itself was weird. Chase was living in a new city and was living with an almost-boyfriend who used to be an agent of the Light. It was understandable that Wally would be getting new requests, would be facing new situations. So, he ran.

He'd made the run between the Louisiana headquarters and Holo City so many times that he almost went there, but he managed to readjust to the path to New Holo City instead. There were times, like that one, where his heart ached at the thought that Holo City was gone. Wally hadn't really given himself the time to process that loss because he'd been going everywhere and doing everything in the time since they relocated. But… he'd helped build Holo City from scratch. He'd set up the government, rescued the people, built the buildings, painted murals in houses, helped plant the community gardens. It was… it was almost as much of a home as the main Circus headquarters. And it had been dismantled, left behind, abandoned. It was replaced with something that he'd done a lot less to create. Sure, he'd helped with some buildings and with some paintings and some gardening and certainly the financials, but that was it.

The therapists had said that painting the murals and working on the gardening were great voluntary tasks for a lot of the kids to work on. They were trying to get the escaped kids to start to re-associate tasks with better memories. They didn't want painting or gardening to be thought of only in terms of the drab, soulless, endless work that the camps made some of the metas do. The therapists also had not wanted the kids to see other meta kids working on construction because that was where most of the bad memories and traumas were and they were avoiding that in the beginning. Also, the therapists were of the opinion that construction was not a suitable profession for anyone under the age of 18 because of the potential dangers involved and so they didn't want Wally to set a bad example. Of course, they knew that they couldn't stop him from doing it entirely, but he was limited on his chances to help. It _sucked_.

Maybe Wally would go to the ruins of Holo City for some sort of closure. Maybe he'd bring everyone else – the rest of the Circus, the Team, the Justice League, the Alliance, the Teen Titans, his benefactors. He'd make it all one big event. It would be a show of trust and a way for everyone to meet comfortably. It would be… it would be nice. Really nice.

Wally blinked when he realized he'd made it to New Holo City.

Shaking his head to get rid of the sappy thoughts (there was too much happiness floating around the headquarters for Wally to get _anything_ done, honestly), Wally pulled to a stop, skidding a little bit in the dirt.

His hackles were immediately raised at the lifeless sight that greeted him. There were _no people_ visible from the front gate. That was highly unusual. Especially at this time of the afternoon when most people normally took advantage of the sunshine. Were they trying to surprise him? That would explain the weird request and the strange inflection in Chase's voice. They knew he didn't like surprises, though. They made him highly suspicious.

But that was ridiculous. The metas here were safe. No one knew where New Holo City was. For all that Wally was willing to share with all the new people he was working with, his city was not one of them. There was _no way_ he was going to put them in danger like that. Until the people of New Holo City told him that they wanted other people to know, he wouldn't tell anyone other than the rest of the Circus.

Of course, Grodd from Gorilla City had known and that was how their first location failed, but it wasn't like that this time. Gorilla City didn't know where their new city was. No one knew. Everyone was safe.

Wally ignored his rising paranoia. Wasn't he just telling the others that he could laugh and make friends and be normal? Being horribly suspicious in this situation where everything was fine was ridiculous.

Except… except he still wasn't seeing anyone.

His hackles rose further and further the more he walked into the city. There were no citizens, no sounds, no lights in windows. It was a ghost town, an abandoned crypt. It wasn't anything like the lively, beautiful place he'd seen just yesterday.

Wally took a deep breath, walking just a little bit faster. Chase had asked to meet him in the main town square so they could walk and talk a little bit. The town square wasn't too far off, thankfully. Still, it felt too long for Wally. With the way his air was getting trapped in his lungs and a cold shiver moved relentlessly up and down his back? The walk was far, far too long.

Especially when he got to the main town square and found it empty.

It was the only place in the entire city large enough to hold the whole population.

Where was Chase? Where was everyone else? How do a couple thousand people just disappear out of nowhere?

Panic truly rising now, Wally raced through the city, spinning and tripping his way through the nearest building. No one. No one.

He checked the next building. No one.

The next. No one.

The next. No one.

The next. No one.

There was no one in the city.

Wally raced back to the main square. Maybe there'd be some sort of hope there? Some sort of sign of where they all were?

Anxiety mounting, Wally finally spotted a small piece of paper tacked to the fountain in the middle of the square. He sped over to it, almost smashing into the fountain with his clumsy stop. His fingers were shaking when he grabbed the paper. He read the cold, impersonal font carefully. It read:

 _I warned you before that resistance is futile._

 _You continued to resist against me._

 _You will now be forced to comply._

 _Your people are unharmed for now and will remain that way depending on your actions._

 _Comply and they will remain safe._

 _Continue to resist and they will be_ hurt _._

 _I have given you an address._

 _You will come to that address, unarmed, without telling anyone else about this situation or your plans._

 _I will be watching._

Wally felt his heart break.

This was it. He'd done this. He'd told the people of New Holo City that they would be safe, that he would do every single thing in his power to keep them safe. He failed when the Light found Holo City and sent in a spy, but at least he'd been able to do damage control on that front. He'd been able to stop Tommy Terror from causing too much damage. Now? Now he'd brought this upon them.

By continuously fighting against the Light, pushing and pushing and pushing, he'd painted an enormous target on New Holo City. It still didn't explain how they were found or how they were all taken without anyone tripping an alarm, but that didn't matter at that moment. All that mattered was the fact that they were gone, and it was all Wally's fault.

As if to make the moment worse, tears started to push at Wally's eyes. He was _sick_ of being the cause for other people's suffering. He was _sick_ of being ten steps behind the Light. He was _sick_ of being told what to do and pushed around because of who he was. He _hated_ it. He wanted out of this. He wanted to be a normal kid, wanted to have just lived his life in the blissful ignorance that so much of the rest of the world got to experience. What did he do to deserve this? Why him?

Only the thought that the Light could really be watching this and could possibly see him sobbing his eyes out got Wally to stop.

Heaving in a tight, painful breath, Wally tried to control his emotions again. What was the situation? What did he need to do to fix this? He would do his best to make sure that none of the people in this city were ever hurt again.

Looking over the note again, Wally mentally figured out where the address led to. That almost certainly wasn't Savage's main base, but it certainly had to be a pretty big one if it held the inhabitants of New Holo City. Assuming that's where they were being held. There was a chance that Savage wouldn't even allow Wally to see them.

If this was even Savage. Although Wally was almost certain that Savage was the only enemy he had that was powerful enough to pull something like this off, he couldn't discount the idea that someone else had taken advantage of the distraction Wally was operating under. He would be _furious_ if that was the case (not that he wasn't already furious, angrier than he'd ever been).

Did he risk telling anyone else? Did he risk bringing something? Instinctually, Wally would immediately risk that because at the very least _one person_ should know what he was doing or where he was, but… there was a very, very real chance that the enemy could see him, would hurt the others if Wally put one toe over the line.

Swallowing past the rising tears, Wally pushed out another painful breath. It was okay. He could do this himself (he couldn't). He didn't need to always rely on other people (he was so weak, he'd always need to rely on others). He would rescue them (how could he rescue that many people by himself? He'd only been able to rescue a small handful when he'd escaped from the camps).

And so, Wally did what he did best. He _ran_.

KKKKKK

The house that Max and Wally had used for the trap seemed completely abandoned when the four of them made it. There were no lights on, no figures moving inside. More importantly, there didn't seem to be anyone on the outside.

Kaldur whispered to Conner, "Can you hear anyone in the surrounding area?"

After a second of narrow-eyed consideration, Conner shook his head before answering out loud, "There are three people inside the building, though."

Max's voice spoke into their comms, "That's what the trap system is reading. One of them is pretty massive, but I can't get any more information than that, sorry. No readings or anything telling me who they might be."

"That is alright," Kaldur answered easily. Just the knowledge that they had three enemies waiting for them was good enough. It was better than nothing.

Kaldur motioned to them, showing them that they should move towards the building. The other three easily fell into place around them. It was certainly inconvenient to not have M'gann's mind link, to have to rely on spoken word and staying quiet enough to stay hidden while still being heard. Still, they had trained for situations like this.

The four of them stayed out of sight as they crept towards the doors, peering in and out of places to ensure their safety. So far, it looked like they hadn't tipped anyone off about their presence. After a moment, Robin spoke quietly into the comms, " _Why did these guys stay here for so long if they knew that Max and the Titans weren't here?_ "

Kaldur felt a chill roll down his spine at the thought. The Sphere was a fast enough mode of transportation and the zeta beam they'd gone through had been quite close to the house, but enough time had passed that the enemy should have left the building.

Artemis cursed, low and frustrated, " _There's no way this isn't a trap_."

"But it is one we are aware of," Kaldur tried to soothe despite the anxiety settling under his own skin.

" _We should call in backup_ ," Conner said, voice flat with the rising tension of the moment.

" _What if we don't need anyone?_ " Artemis asked, " _Trap or not, there are only three of them. I don't think there's even anyone close enough to make a difference_."

" _Better safe than sorry_ ," Robin, surprisingly, argued. Normally, he was one of the ones most vocal about not calling in backup and instead proving their own worth. Kaldur sent Robin a startled look, causing him to shrug and admit, " _This doesn't feel right. I'm getting a really, really bad feeling about this whole situation and I know better than to ignore those feelings._ "

Kaldur paused for a moment to think about it before deciding, "Alright, we will call in for backup, but we will not wait for them to arrive. We cannot let this enemy escape when we have a chance at stopping them. I will send a distress signal to the Justice League immediately." He pressed the small button that sent out the signal, watching the other three do the same thing. They knew that all four of them sending out a distress beacon would gather attention a lot faster than just one of them.

That done, the four of them moved in on the building.

Kaldur watched as Artemis crouched behind the door, motioning to Robin on the other side of the door. He nodded back to her and Artemis yanked the door open, rolling to the side and aiming an arrow through the open door. Robin had already summersaulted into the house, a batarang in one hand and a bo staff in the other. There was no response, no movement.

The two sent each other concerned looks even as Kaldur and Conner crept closer, following behind them. Conner held his fists out while Kaldur activated his water bearers, peering around the seemingly abandoned house. He whispered into the comms, "Max, can you see where in the building they are?"

" _Not really? I think they're on the second floor? But I'm really not sure. Like I said, we prioritized trap making over high tech,_ " Max informed them regretfully.

Kaldur pursed his lips in frustration but understood the reasoning. He motioned towards the staircase, carefully moving up it first, the others falling into place behind him.

They didn't even make it up the staircase before being attacked.

The first person who swept down on them was certainly larger than normal. With a start, Kaldur recognized the man as Mammoth, twin brother to Shimmer. Immediately after the initial recognition, Kaldur saw Shimmer dropping down next to Mammoth, eyes glittering with fury. Finally, Devastation dropped to the ground next to them (some distant part of Kaldur thought to himself that something was wrong here, that these people had been apprehended and sent to either jail or the camps. How did they escape?). Kaldur felt his heart sink. These were _not_ easy targets. At this point, all they would be able to do was hold on long enough for the League to get there.

The three certainly weren't going to make it easy on them.

Superboy made the first move, launching himself at Mammoth. Mammoth back up a step or two at Superboy's surprise move, but allowed himself to be tackled, taking the momentum of it and rolling two of them right off of the staircase. There was a crunch as they hit the floor and then a deeper sounding boom. Kaldur realized that they'd fallen straight through the floor and into the basement.

Kaldur took a deep breath before moving straight into battle with Devastation. Due to his thicker skin, he would be better going against her. Hopefully, Shimmer would be easy for the other two to deal with. Without any powers, she was just a good fighter. But not as good as Artemis and Robin.

Except, apparently, Shimmer _did_ have powers. Kaldur narrowly missed a vicious punch to the face when he stumbled at hearing a loud hissing sound followed by a yelp and a crash. He glanced slightly behind him as he watched Shimmer grab Artemis's bow, grinning as the bow _evaporated_ in Artemis's grasp. Kaldur knew that he was gaping at Shimmer just as much as Artemis was. He noticed the hole in the stairs and Robin's slowly moving body in the hole. It was obvious he was injured in the fall and was trying to get up. Had Shimmer evaporated the stairs from under his feet?

Kaldur was forced to focus back on his own battle when Devastation got a good punch in, sending Kaldur flying up the stairs and slamming through a wall into someone's bedroom. Idly, Kaldur wondered if this house was one of the Circus safehouses. He would feel bad about the destruction they were causing if that was the case.

Dazedly, Kaldur tried to focus back into the fight, blinking away the stubborn black dots that seemed determined to dance around him. He got to his feet, only having to press his weight against the wall once in order to stand.

Coughing, Kaldur got his water bearers back out, shaking his head to clear it. He could defeat Devastation. Artemis and Robin could defeat Shimmer. Superboy could defeat Mammoth.

Baring his teeth, Kaldur ran towards Devastation, ducking underneath one huge swinging arm and bringing his sword up to cut a stinging gash on her skin. Unfortunately, it was only a scratch, barely getting through the surface. Kaldur twirled around, getting her on the other side with his other sword. She swung around, a snarl rippling across her face. Kaldur leapt to the side, kicking one foot off of the wall to bring an elbow down on Devastation's face.

She was able to grab his elbow before he could do more action, swinging him around and off him. She _threw_ him against another wall, forcing a pained hiss through his teeth. It would take more than that to take him down, though. Kaldur got painfully to his feet before throwing himself back at her.

As much as he _ached_ at the assault Devastation was leveling at him, Kaldur couldn't help but feel as if there was something wrong. It… it almost felt like Devastation was holding back. Kaldur felt confident in his own abilities, but he should have been pushed harder than this by Devastation. And she wasn't radiating any of the usual killing intent and malice. In fact, he hadn't felt any sort of malice from any of the three. None of them had any sort of anger on their expression. Only… only frustration and a hint of fear.

There was something wrong.

But there also wasn't any time to think about that because, strange expressions or not, these were still criminals and they were still attacking.

Kaldur moved in again, landing another sword cut on her thigh, kicking her deep in the gut before using the momentum to push himself further up, kneeing her under the chin before dropping the butt of his sword against her head.

He jumped off just as Devastation dropped, dazed and pained, into a heap on the landing. Kaldur kept his water bearers activated as he stalked forward. He wanted to restrain her, but he needed to be careful. Without anyone to watch her, he'd be practically defenseless if she attacked while he was restraining her.

Unfortunately, Kaldur was distracted when he heard the sounds of backup arriving outside the building. He turned just the slightest bit, but that was already too much. Devastation swept one heavy-set leg against his own legs, sending him crashing painfully to the ground, bruises already forming from her attack. From his place smashed against the floor, he could just see Shimmer getting a good push on Artemis, sending her through the hole in the stairs. Robin paused to save Artemis for a nasty fall she wasn't in the right position to take. Shimmer raced up the stairs, easily avoiding Kaldur as she grabbed Devastation and hauled the woman up.

Kaldur tried to stand up, but didn't get a chance as Mammoth raced passed him, grabbing Devastation as Shimmer started running with him. The three of them _threw_ themselves out the window, easily escaping on some kind of machine.

Seconds later, the door burst open, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow rushing into the building, weapons drawn. Kaldur pulled himself into a seated position, gesturing out the back, "They escaped."

WWWWWW

The enormous warehouse he walked into practically _screamed_ trap. There was also no way it could have held all of the inhabitants of the city. Unless they were crammed in like sardines. Or they could be underground. That was a viable option.

Carefully, projecting his movements to anyone or anything that might be watching, Wally moved towards the front doors. Was he supposed to just… walk in? This didn't feel right. It was prickling at Wally, fear swirling around him. He needed to do this, though. He needed to save his people.

The doors opened easily. No locks, no alarms, not even a squeak. There was no one in the gaping warehouse he was faced with. It didn't look like there were even any traps.

Heart pounding faster than he'd ever felt it before, Wally took a step forward. And then another. Where were his people? Where was Savage?

Wally practically jumped out of his skin when a screen flickered to life directly in front of him. Trying to control his breathing, Wally watched as Savage stepped to the front of the screen, a satisfied, grim little smirk playing around the edges of his lips.

Wally growled, tried to hide the shaking of his hands, "Where are they?"

Savage stared at him intensely, steepling his fingers, "They are safe. I will show them to you momentarily." Then he just stopped, staring at Wally like he had the answers to the universe hidden somewhere on his person.

After a few seconds of that, Wally snapped, "What are you waiting for?"

Instead of answering verbally, Savage leaned back, gesturing behind him. And there, eyes glittering up into the camera and therefore up at Wally, were the people of his city. Wally had to fight to keep his sob from erupting. His fault, his fault, his fault.

He managed to get out, "Are you guys alright? Any dead? Any injured?"

"Yes, we're alright. No one's dead and no one's injured. They've been, well, not polite, but as nice as could be expected for kidnappers from an evil organization," the mayor answered easily, stress lining the folds of his face.

Chase broke in, tears staining her cheeks and one hand tightly gripping Tommy Terror's, "It's all my fault, Supersonic! I'm so sorry! Tommy and I really, really wanted to meet up with Tuppence and we finally managed to find her. We contacted her to see if we could get together, but we should have gone outside the city to contact her. They tracked us through that and took the whole city hostage. They said they would kill everyone if I didn't call you and lure you to the city!"

The mayor spoke before Wally could, "It's not your fault! The whole city gave you permission to contact Ms. Terror and no one thought about the fact that the call should have been made outside the city. Supersonic, we all failed you. You have worked so hard to keep us safe, but we failed you by becoming lax."

Wally could feel tears pushing at his eyes again as he choked out a laugh, "C'mon guys. Don't be so cliché. This really isn't the time to be proclaiming guilt. Especially guilt that no one deserves. It's fine, guys. It's not your fault. I'm just… I'm just glad that he didn't hurt any of you."

"Yet," Savage's voice broke in, sending the people in the room flinching backwards. The sound from the people of New Holo City abruptly shut off. He didn't even turn to look at them, raising Wally's hackles at the disrespect.

Jaw clenched, Wally scowled, "What do you want?"

Savage looked over him dispassionately, "I want you and the Circus to stop fighting against the Light."

"You can't be serious," Wally said, somewhat helplessly. He knew that Savage could be completely serious. And he knew that he would do it, would do anything to protect these people like he'd promised.

"I am very serious. You have shown that you won't work with me. This is the easiest way to get rid of you," Savage responded.

Trying to muster up some form of bravado, Wally sneered, "Why? Can't handle us? Is the Circus too much for you to deal with? You weren't expecting us to do so well at taking you down, were you?"

"You could be useful in the future which is the only reason I do not kill you. You are _nothing_ but an annoyance. Well, unless you would prefer to go back to being a lab rat. You were quite good at _that_ ," Savage smirked, seeming to take amusement from Wally's involuntary flinch, "Maybe you could do that instead. Give yourself over to me, to my scientists. With your healing factor and the level of research we have already completed, there is a lot we could learn from you. Our research would go even faster. With the proper excuse, I am sure I could convince your team that you abandoned them. Without a true leader, they would surely fall apart."

Wally tried to swallow around the dry spot in his throat, around the fear that clutched at him and choked out the words he wanted to say. He couldn't go back to being an experiment. He _couldn't_.

But then he looked past Savage, at the sea of faces that were just as scared as he was. Wally could not let them be hurt anymore. He couldn't. He would do _anything_ to prevent that.

Of course, of the two options, he immediately wanted to go with the first one. Why wouldn't he? All he had to do was stop investigating the Light and his people would be safe. He wouldn't need to be hurt. But… there were problems there. Even if he ignored the damage that would come from pulling out of the battle against the Light, there were other potential disadvantages. How many of his benefactors would pull their funding when they realized that the Circus were cowards who ran from the Light? What message did it send to the younger children that had been rescued?

On the other hand, if he agreed to go with Savage, how could he make sure that Savage kept to his word? He'd have no way to interact with the outside world, no way to find out if his people were safe. And what did Savage mean when he said that he'd make sure that Wally's team knew that he'd abandoned them? What would he do? How much damage would that cause? And when the Circus inevitably rallied and didn't fall apart (because they were stronger than what Savage apparently thought they were), what would Savage do to them? Would he trap them each one by one, taking them out the same way he would take Wally out?

Which option had the largest repercussions? Which one was the most beneficial for inconveniencing Savage?

In the end, though, there was really only one option Wally could pick, only one that allowed for Savage to still be defeated.

Wally's shoulders slumped, "I'll go with you. As long as you show me them being freed. You _have_ to show me that. Otherwise I run."

Savage smirked again, "Perfect." He made a gesture to the screen behind him and turned the volume back on.

Wally could hear the people muttering between them, looking intently at the screen. Wally opened his mouth to reassure them, but Savage spoke over him, "They can't hear you." Wally glared at him, mouth pulled back into a scowl.

A sound from the people brought his attention back to them. A gasp rippled through the crowd before scattered cheering erupted. Wally narrowed his eyes. What were they seeing? Or hearing? He flinched when the cheering turned into horrified screams, faces paling. Wally watched as a few of them dropped to their knees, horror lining every part of their expressions. What were they _seeing_?

A voice spoke over their speakers, announcing cheerfully, "The power inhibitor surrounding this room has been dropped. You may now go free." Wally still didn't understand what happened, but he watched with relief as the teleporters quickly grabbed handfuls of people, bringing them somewhere safe before coming back and grabbing another handful. Soon, there was no one left.

It was just Wally. And his promise.

Shoulders drooping, Wally looked up at Savage, "What do you want me to do?"

"Return to your base. I'm sure you know where it is by now," Savage answered, smirk playing around his lips, presumably at the thought that Wally was going to be returning to the place where he'd been tortured by his girlfriend. Screw him.

Sighing, Wally answered as sarcastically as he could manage, "Yes sir."

And, with no other options (Savage knew where New Holo City was, knew how to get to Wally if he went somewhere else, knew where to make it hurt), he ran straight to Savage.

BBBBBB

Barry felt sick as he watched the video. The three metas in the video had been some of the members of Wally's people who'd been assigned to Barry's main Alliance base. The three of them had become good friends with a lot of the people here in the month they'd been there. And now… now this?

Something had to be wrong. The video was faked. Something.

There was no way that the Team would purposefully attack three of Wally's metas without even a word exchanged, without being provoked.

Except… Barry watched, heartbroken, as Superboy leapt onto Baran (who'd picked out the hero name Mammoth) without any provocation.

Carefully, Barry switched the screen to his security feeds. He felt sick to his stomach as he watched the Circus members that were at his main base laugh easily. They would be destroyed when they found out what the Team had done.

No, Barry shook his head, that wasn't right. He didn't _know_ for sure if the Team did this. It was probably faked. He would give them a chance to deny the video before he started making accusations. If they turned out to be true…

Barry would get to that when the time came. For now, he would just make sure that the Circus members stayed here, safe, while he confronted the heroes.

CCCCCC

Cameron had been having a blast at the Russian Alliance base, but a chime from his comms unit had him groaning and excusing himself.

Irritated at being interrupted, his eyes narrowed when he saw the name on the communicator, "Hey, what's up Chase?"

Cameron Chase was frantic when she answered, " _They killed him! Cam, they killed him! We couldn't stop them! I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry!_ "

"Who killed who? Chase, who is dead?" Cameron asked, a stone sinking in his gut. Who was dead? What was going on?

Chase gave a frantic little hiccupping sob before crying, " _Wally! The Team killed Wally! Savage took the entire city captive which was_ all my fault _and used me as bait to bring Wally in. And then Savage got Wally by himself. They were talking about something. I'm not sure what because Savage turned off the speakers that allowed us to hear them, but then they went quiet and then the Team came in and_ killed _Wally. He fought but there were so many of them and… and… I'm so sorry! I'm so_ sorry!"

The stone sinking in his gut turned into ice as Cameron's eyes widened and his stomach turned. No. No, that was wrong. _Everything_ about that was wrong. Wally couldn't be dead, first and foremost. There was _no way_ that Wally could be dead. And the Team would _never_ kill Wally. There was no way. They didn't kill anyone! And they would have to have been working with Savage which is another thing they wouldn't have done.

Shaking his head even though she couldn't see him, Cameron said, "Do you have proof? Do you have more witnesses?"

" _Cam, I don't think you understand. The entire population of New Holo City saw them kill the Wally. You could ask any of us. You could ask all of us. We know what we saw. Even if… even if we didn't want to see it. Oh God, he's_ dead _. What are we going to_ do _, Icicle?_ " Chase sobbed through the communicator.

Stuttering slightly, Cameron managed to respond, "Just stay put. I'll figure this out."

For a second he just sat there, shell-shocked, beyond confused, _scared_. Then, he burst into action. For a couple of minutes, all he did was call people over the communicator, asking if they'd seen Wally. He called Wally first (no response, God, why couldn't Wally had just answered right then and prove this nightmare wrong?). Then he called every member of the Circus. He called most of the benefactors (receiving confusion from the Green Team, worry and a promise to help look from the Rogues, and a confirmation that Wally had been lured to New Holo City from Max). He called the Alliance (he got a frazzled sounding Iris whose immediate suspicion about his line of questioning was very out of character for her). He even called Superman. He couldn't bring himself to call the Team (what if Chase was right? What if they killed…).

No one knew where Wally was.

KKKKKK

The Team was mostly gathered together in the Med Bay around the sickbeds of those injured in the mission. No one had sustained truly bad injuries, but Dr. Thompkins had asked them to stay in the Med Bay overnight just in case.

Kaldur would have preferred to spend the night in his headquarters bed, but he supposed that it was alright to stay there for the night as long as he was surrounded by friends.

Then Dick frowned at a ping on his wrist computer. The rest of the group glanced over at the growing frown on his face.

Conner asked curiously, "What is it?"

Dick shook his head, "I'm not really sure. It's a message that reads: _How much was real?_ And then there's a video attachment."

"Play it on a larger screen for all of us to watch," Kaldur commanded, already worried. What could it possibly be?

Apparently, it could be one of the worst things Kaldur had ever seen.

He watched as a large, empty warehouse appeared. On one side of the warehouse was a large screen dominated mostly by Vandal Savage. Standing in front of him was Wally. The Team gasped at the sight.

Their jaws dropped when they heard Wally ask, " _What do you want me to do?_ " His voice was tinny and distorted by the video, but it was definitely him.

Savage responded with a small smirk, " _Return to your base. I'm sure you know where it is by now._ " Artemis started muttering small no's over and over again as she watched.

They watched as Wally answered easily, " _Yes sir._ " And then he ran.

The question from the message blinked over the empty screen.

 _How much was real?_

 **Author's Note: I hope that wasn't too confusing! I know there were a lot of POV changes and a lot of back and forth here, but I was trying to do something. I'm not sure if I succeeded or not… I guess I'll find out :P Thanks for reading!**


	58. Chapter 58

**Author's Note: I'm back! All settled in and set up here. Thanks for waiting, guys! Alright, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **May – Aw, thanks! This was all so sweet! Thank you for taking the time to review!**

 **HI – Thank you for the review! And I'll definitely have fun here!**

KKKKKK

The chaos that erupted after viewing the video of Wally apparently defecting was something that would stay with Kaldur for a long time. There had been a beat of silence, of stillness, the room transformed into some sort of horror movie tableau. Then there had been movement, flurrying movement and stress and squawks of protests.

The first thing Kaldur did was trying to contact Wally. Surely this was some sort of mistake, some sort of misunderstanding. Surely it was a trick, a faked video to throw the Team off, to tear them away from the Circus. If Wally would just answer his comms, then there wouldn't be a problem. The entire thing could be explained away. Well, it probably wouldn't be that simple. There would probably need to be an investigation, a formal search into what actually happened.

But Wally wasn't picking up his comms. He wasn't answering so Kaldur couldn't clear his name, couldn't explain this away.

Kaldur felt his breath pick up. He'd just gotten Garth back. Please don't take Wally away too. _Please_. Especially not this way. Don't make him a traitor. Don't make him abandon them, betray them, _hurt_ them. Please, _please_ let this all be a trick, a cruel tactic.

Robin's voice cut through the general panic in the room, "Who sent this?"

Artemis's voice was scathing, hurt, confused when she answered, "It was obviously Savage! That… that! _He_ wants us to know just how badly we've been betrayed!"

"Wait, though!" Dick pleaded, the white slits of his mask narrowed in concentration, "That doesn't make sense. Why would Savage give up that advantage? If Supersonic was working with them, then surely Savage would want that to remain a secret. Now that we know that Supersonic is, supposedly, a spy or a traitor or whatever, we won't trust him anymore and Savage loses his advantage. So, why show us this?"

"Could it have been anyone else sending that?" Raquel asked, mouth pinched with stress.

"Who would? I mean, seriously, who _isn't_ working with the Light? Who would try to help us by showing us this?" Zatanna asked, angrily scratching at a part of her cast.

Conner shook his head, shoulders bunching around his ears in his distress, "What about the Alliance?"

"They would come in person, wouldn't they? Or they would have told us that it was them," Artemis sighed. Her hands were shaking where she pulled them up around herself in a mock hug.

Conner frowned harder, "The Hackers?"

"Please, we could barely get them to work with us after the Light kidnapped and killed most of them. They would have demanded some sort of payment or favor or whatever for the information," Dick stated bitterly. He avoided contact with the Hackers at all costs after a few not-so-great interactions with them. Kaldur knew he felt bad about foisting more of the pro-meta work onto the Circus, but Wally had just smiled and said that it was perfectly alright, that the Hackers were a nightmare to work with, that Robin was probably needed elsewhere anyways.

Why did it have to be Wally? Why, why, why?

For a long moment, there was silence as everyone tried to process everything that had just happened, as everyone tried to think of some explanation, some excuse that made it all better, that explained what they'd just seen.

The silence was broken by a screen near the front of the infirmary lighting up. It was a call request from the Alliance.

Dick's eyes widened, "Do you think they got the same video as us?"

"If not, do we tell them what happened? Do we tell them about the video?" Artemis asked frantically.

Closing his eyes tightly to try to get control of his frayed nerves, Kaldur shook his head, "We do not speak of the video unless they speak of it first. As much as I hate to say it, if it were between the Circus and the Team, I believe the Alliance would side with the Circus. We could lose their help if we wrongly accuse Wally. Furthermore… Wally might not be the only one working with the Light." Stunned silence echoed through the room again. Could the Alliance be working against them too? Kaldur had not even entertained the idea until he spoke it, but now…

He accepted the call.

Barry's face filled the screen, cowl up, blue eyes snapping with fury, lips pulled into a tight line. A spark or two escaped from around him before he seemingly got himself under control. The Team stared at him in shock. They hadn't been aware that Barry could _get_ angry.

Barry swallowed tightly, pinched the bridge of his nose, and shut his eyes, "I don't want to hear anything other than a 'yes' or a 'no.' Is that understood?" Mutely, they all nodded. Barry opened his eyes, lightning flashing through them for a moment before he ground out, "Is that understood?"

Kaldur answered verbally then, "Yes."

Barry closed his eyes again, obviously trying to pull himself together. Did he already know about Wally's potential betrayal? Was he testing them? Barry pressed a few buttons on his keyboard before an image popped up next to him on the screen, asking, "Do you recognize this place?"

It was an image of the house Kaldur and the others had just been at earlier that day. There were obvious spots where people had been cropped out of the image. Kaldur narrowed his eyes at it but couldn't find a reason to deny it. He answered clearly, "Yes."

Barry flinched a little bit before blowing out a breath and clearing the image away, pressing a few more keys. Three images popped up on the screen, three teenagers in three separate pictures, delighted smiles or laughs changing their features just enough that it took Kaldur a moment to recognize them. His eyes widened when he realized he was looking at pictures of Mammoth, Shimmer, and Devastation. He'd only ever seen them in battle or in their mugshots. He'd never seen them so blatantly… happy, so brightly optimistic and pleased. What… what was going on? Barry asked, "Do you recognize these people?"

Regardless of Kaldur's confusion, he still answered simply, "Yes." Hopefully Barry would explain what was happening after Kaldur finished answering his questions.

Barry asked, "Do you know who these people are?"

Did he mean did Kaldur know that they were criminals? Kaldur answered uncertainly, "Yes?"

Fingers clenched tightly, Barry blew out a breath before clearing those images from the screen and looking at Kaldur very seriously, "Did you attack these people today?"

Kaldur glanced over at the rest of his team. Did they understand what was going on better than he did? All he got were shrugs in response. Why was Barry so upset? These people were criminals and all Kaldur and the others had done was try to trap the people searching for their friends. The traps had even been set by Wally! Oh… by _Wally_. Was that why Barry was so upset? Did he know about the video? So… maybe it wasn't anything that the Team did that was upsetting Barry. The older speedster was probably just trying to fact check before he did anything. Calmer now, Kaldur answered again, "Yes."

He wasn't expecting Barry's face to light up (literally, lightning sparking through his eyes) for a moment before he visibly calmed himself. Barry's features tightened for a moment before he closed his eyes again and said, "I have to talk to the rest of the Alliance about this. I will speak to you later."

And that was it. Barry cut off the connection, leaving the Team alone in the med bay.

Artemis coughed lightly, "What… what just happened?"

Shaking his head, Kaldur said quietly, "I am not sure."

The doors suddenly opened, preventing them from talking about anything further. Superman strode into the room, expression light and open. It was obvious he didn't get any sort of video about Wally. At least, it was until Superman opened his mouth and asked, "Do any of you know where Wally is?"

Superman blinked, eyebrows drawing down in confusion when the whole Team bodily twitched at his question. He spoke a little slowly, obviously trying to figure out what was going on, "It's just that, uh, Cameron called me and asked if I'd seen Wally. He seemed pretty shaken up about whatever was bothering him. I just figured I'd come over here and see if you'd seen him so I could let Cameron know."

"Cameron doesn't know where Wally is?" Artemis asked eagerly. Kaldur cocked his head to the side, confused as to why that would make Artemis so happy, but then he remembered that she was dating Cameron. How hard must this situation be for her? Her boyfriend's best friend was under suspicion. For all she knew, her boyfriend was in on it.

Superman looked truly confused by that point, "Uh, no, I don't think so. He sounded like he'd been asking all around. Do you guys know where Wally is?"

The group tried their best to hide their nervous shuffling, but it was almost impossible to try to hide nerves from Superman. His eyes widened before he almost scolded, "Don't lie to me. Where is Wally?"

The group glanced to each other quickly before M'gann put up a mind link. Dick asked immediately, _Are we going to tell him?_

 _We should tell some sort of adult. This doesn't just affect us. This affects the entire organization of teams. And, I mean, being real? A lot more people are loyal to the Circus than they are to us. They don't trust us enough to be loyal_ , Artemis finished sadly. It was true. Most of the groups they worked with had a large amount of metahumans and metas were very suspicious people, often mistrusting authority figures.

Conner frowned, _We don't know if it's true or not yet. We shouldn't tell anyone until we know for sure whether it's true. Wally doesn't deserve to be accused without us looking into the situation first._

 _And what about that weirdness with Flash?_ Raquel added, _There wasn't anything normal about that. We should look more into Mammoth, Shimmer, and Devastation. You guys all said that there was something off about that fight._

 _It felt as though they were holding back,_ Kaldur murmured into the link.

Raquel nodded to him, _Exactly. We should look into how they found that place, into what that place was. We can ask Max about that._

 _I mean, you guys know that I like my independence as much as the next girl, but I still think we should involve some adults. Get them to help us look into things. We're part of a huge group of teams for a reason, you know?_ Zatanna suggested nervously.

Raquel frowned at her, _We'd involve Max. That's an adult._

 _I meant a Leaguer, Raquel_ , Zatanna snapped.

Raquel's eyes lit up and she took a small step forward, _Why? What makes a Leaguer any better? Max is fine! He's an adult! He's one of the most influential people in the world. Or, well, he was. Before he had to run. But he was! He can handle something like this. What's your problem with him? Is it because he's a meta and not a hero?_ M'gann audibly gasped and Superman looked to be seconds away from losing patience with their obvious mind conversation.

Zatanna snarled back at her, _That's obviously not the problem!_ Obviously _, I was saying we should involve an entire_ team _of adults instead of one singular adult who we barely know who appeared out of nowhere. Besides, who are you to lecture me about 'is it because he's a meta and not a hero?' You were one of the ones most against letting the metas join up with us in the first place, months ago!_

Raquel's eyes flashed again, and she took another step forward, this time mirrored by Zatanna limping towards her.

Apparently, that was all that Superman was willing to sit through because he stepped between the two before they could go any further. He put a hand on both girls' shoulders (gently in Zatanna's case since she was still injured) and pushed. Then he stood in the middle of the room, tall and imposing, voice low with frustration, "What is going on here?"

Kaldur closed his eyes, gathering himself. He answered carefully, fully aware that the Team had not come to a conclusive decision, hoping that they would follow his decision, "We received a video with… distressing implications in it. We were figuring out a way to verify the truth of the video before bringing it to anyone else's attention. During that process, the Flash contacted us. He seemed very upset and asked if we recognized the house where the trap was set earlier today and if we recognized and attacked Mammoth, Shimmer, and Devastation. When we answered yes to all questions, he shut off the camera, saying he needed to discuss it with the rest of the Alliance. Then you came in."

Superman sighed, rubbing at his temple briefly, "Can I assume that this… distressing video had something to do with Wally?" Kaldur didn't answer, but Superman just sighed again and muttered, "I guess that answers that. Alright, is there anything I can help you do in regards to verifying the video? Do you need me to field the rest of the Circus members while you're working on this?"

The group all glanced at each other again but didn't attempt another mind link while they were all still volatile. Kaldur watched as all of their shoulders slumped, and they nodded at him at the same time. They were very capable heroes who could do almost anything, but… in the end, they were still kids. And besides, one of the best things to learn is how to ask for help.

So, Kaldur pulled up the video and pressed play.

He felt his heart sink at the horror on Superman's face. Superman thought that Wally had betrayed them. Was that so believable? Was it so easy to understand the idea that Wally might have betrayed them?

Superman swallowed tightly, "What possible reason could Wally have for betraying us and joining the Light?"

"Undercover?" Robin suggested.

At the same time, M'gann offered, "The Circus or New Holo City might have been threatened."

"I think someone would have mentioned him going undercover if that was the case," Raquel pointed out dubiously, sending Zatanna a wary look when the other girl growled lightly at the suggestion.

Dick tilted his head from side to side, "Not necessarily. I mean, if you want an undercover operation to _really_ look authentic, then the less people who know, the better."

Kaldur tried to keep the hurt from his voice when he said, "Surely he would have at least let me know, though. We are co-leaders, after all." He thought he might not have been as successful as he'd have liked when Dick sent him a vaguely pitying look.

M'gann said tentatively, "Perhaps Cameron knows? If anyone knew, Cameron would."

"Even through the comms link, I would have been able to tell if he was lying or not, though," Superman shook his head, "Cameron definitely did not know where Wally was when he asked me earlier."

"Wally wouldn't have gone undercover without telling Cameron. That's like, completely wrong," Raquel said, lips pursed.

"So, was anyone threatened?" Dick asked.

Kaldur shook his head, "I am not certain how we would be able to tell. Wally likely would not join the Light on anything other than a guarantee that the person being threatened would actually be hurt. The Circus members were all at various Alliance headquarters across the world, so it is unlikely that they could be the subjects of viable threats. Maxwell Lord is here. The Teen Titans have been checking in every ten minutes to ensure their safety and they have yet to miss a check-in. We have no method of seeing if New Holo City was threatened."

"Can't we just call Cameron and ask him if he knows anything or if he can talk to New Holo City?" Artemis asked, lightly tugging on a lock of her hair.

Superman sighed, "I hate to have to suggest this, but can we be certain that the rest of the Circus aren't in on this?"

"Didn't you say that Cameron was genuinely wondering where Wally was? Would he be wondering – or, well, publicly wondering, asking around, whatever – if he knew that there was a possibility that Wally was with the enemy?" Artemis asked, a hint of desperation leaking into her voice.

Considering for a moment, Superman gave Artemis a soft smile, "You're right, that makes sense." Everyone was gracious enough to not comment on her soft sigh of relief, her whole body slumping slightly with the release of stress.

"Then all we've got to do is call Cameron, right?" Dick asked, clearly relieved now that they had a clear plan of action.

Superman nodded, "I'll go ahead and do that." He paused for a moment, fiddling with his comm, turning it to speaker mode before pressing another button, "Cameron?"

" _Hey, uh, Superman. Hi, yes. Did you find Wally?_ " Cameron asked, out of breath and clearly rattled by something.

Frowning, Superman answered delicately, "Ah, I'm sorry, Cameron. I haven't found him yet. We just had a question. Do you know if New Holo City was recently threatened by anything?"

" _We?_ " Cameron asked sharply, causing the group to send each other alarmed glances.

Slowly, Superman answered, "Yes, we. I'm with the Team right now. We're just trying to figure something out."

" _You're with the Team?_ " Cameron's voice had shot up a few octaves. Artemis took an aborted step towards the comms device in Superman's hand.

"Is there a problem with that?" Super asked, obviously trying to keep up with the situation. Kaldur frowned. It felt like everyone was working on entirely different wavelengths, confused and misinformed and tripping over each other.

Cameron hastened to say, " _No! No, of course not. Or, well, actually, um. Team? Kaldur? Could you answer a couple questions for me?_ " This was starting to feel like the conversation with the Flash all over again.

Kaldur cleared his throat and said, "Yes, of course. Anything we can do to help. What do you need to ask me?"

There was a pause before Cameron answered, voice slightly strangled, " _Give me a second_." They all listened with concern while Cameron had a whispered conversation with someone. The comm wasn't entirely muted so they could hear little snatches of the conversation. Apparently, someone had done a test for Cameron and it'd come back positive which was obviously distressing for Cameron. He came back on the comms before anyone could say anything else, " _Why were you at that safe house earlier today?_ "

"Was that a safe house?" Kaldur asked, feeling a little bad for the damage that was done.

There was another pause before Cameron said, slowly, " _Yes, that was a safe house. One of the Circus's. It was supposed to be a place for any of our people who ran into trouble to go._ "

Kaldur exchanged startled looks with Dick, "Wally and Max were using it as a trap point for anyone looking for us, the Teen Titans, or Max."

" _Is that so?_ " Cameron asked, voice sounding vaguely strangled again. He took a deep breath before saying, more forcefully, " _Sure, blame it on W – on my fearless leader._ " Kaldur opened his mouth, not quite sure what he was going to say, but Cameron beat him to it, " _I don't care what you do with the other groups or the benefactors. Keep working with them if you want to, if you can stand the guilt. The Circus is pulling out of this whole alliance mess. If we hadn't found the blood, if I hadn't had so many witnesses, if you hadn't attacked those people, maybe I would have been willing to believe in you, but I can't. Deal with the Light on your own. Don't try to contact us again._ "

The line cut out.

WWWWWW

Wally looked woozily over to where Savage was standing, "Why did you… need that much blood?"

Savage smirked at him, "You will find out. In time."

Wally groaned, thumping his head back. He'd barely made it through the gates of the base before he'd been held down and what felt like all of his blood was taken. They'd given him a little bit of time to recover between each new collection, but it wasn't really enough. He felt _awful_.

A man in a bright white lab coat leaned over him and Wally snarled at him. This wasn't going to be like the camps. It wasn't going to be like the mindscape he'd been trapped in. He had his powers now. They needed him alive. That meant that he had leeway to act out, to show his feelings. Of course, that leeway was going to get him punished, but who cared? He was strong enough to take it this time.

The Light thought that they won by taking him, that they'd dealt the opposition a crippling blow. Joke's on them! The Circus wouldn't disband, and the alliance would remain strong. Wally trusted everyone enough to know that. Just because he was taken didn't mean that they would fall apart. They'd formed bonds and connections together. They could withstand this.

No matter what sort of anti-meta propaganda Savage tried to throw at the world, the heroes wouldn't listen to it. They'd been working with the metas like they were any other hero. It was beautiful. It was strong. It was the kind of strong connection that people in stories always had, the kind that could defeat enemies just by existing.

And besides, just because Wally was captured didn't mean he was out for the count either. Sure, he'd had to make the decision to be captured within minutes. But he was a speedster. He could make minutes last an eternity. That meant that he had some sort of plan. He couldn't help the others with their full-frontal attack against the Light, but he could work from the inside. He would be the best inside agent ever.

(Maybe, just maybe, Wally was a little loopy from blood loss. Maybe, just maybe, Wally was more scared than he'd ever been in his life because even in the mindscape, he'd had Cameron and the others in his barracks. Maybe, just maybe, Wally got a little too used to relying on others and now he felt so horribly, terribly alone.)

VVVVVV

Vandal sat back and watched his plans unfold. In truth, things were reaching a head. He no longer had full control of the situation.

After being forced into destroying the Kroloteans, he'd lost a good bit of favor with Darkseid. The Kroloteans had been essential in Darkseid's plots to conquer the rest of the known universe. In a couple years, he would have been done with them and Vandal would have been able to use them as he wanted, but Vandal had been forced to show his hand too early.

At the rate things were going… the confrontation between the forces of Earth and Darkseid's armies was going to occur much too soon for Vandal's plans. Earth wouldn't be ready. No matter how many plans Vandal accelerated, no matter how visible he became trying to finish sooner, it wouldn't be enough. The _Team_ and the _Circus_ made sure of that.

Supersonic thought that he was to become a simple experiment in the camps again. He had easily fallen back into the mindset of believing himself to be nothing but a thing to be directed and used.

He wasn't just an experiment, though. He was a soldier, a source of knowledge, a sacrifice, and, most importantly, a bargaining chip.

 **Author's Note: Every time I think there will only be a couple more chapters, I mess it up for myself. Sad day. I'm aiming to make this less than 66 chapters because I want Rogue's Status to be my longest. We'll see if I can manage that, haha. Thanks for reading!**


	59. Chapter 59

**Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! Read, review, and enjoy!**

WWWWWW

This whole inside agent thing was a lot harder than it looked. Wally was gaining some major respect for Billy through this whole experience (would he ever see Billy again? Could he really get out of here this time?). The major problem that Wally was running into was that he had zero freedom. Savage had obviously learned from his mistakes trying to get Wally to join earlier. Wally had no access to any sort of paper or computer or reports or even people talking. The scientists were silent around him, recording their notes manually instead of speaking them into a microphone like they used to at the camps.

Without access to any information, Wally was a sitting duck. He was blindfolded most of the time. His path from the cell to the labs and back again changed every time he was dragged down it so he couldn't even get that little bit of information. Savage was being annoyingly careful with this whole thing.

Wally sighed, slumping against the wall in his spartan cell, leaning his pounding head against the back wall. Maybe he needed to approach this from a different angle. Surely there was some sort of method of getting information in this situation. Surely there was something. Anything. Wally just wanted to help (it was all he had to keep him sane – if he wasn't helping then what was he doing? What did his sacrifice mean?).

Eyes sliding shut, Wally thought the situation over. Annoying the guards or the scientists into slipping up hadn't worked as of yet, but that was a long-term plan anyways. He could always fall back on that if he had nothing else. Otherwise… what would the others do in this sort of situation? Probably most of them would do about the same he was doing. Kaldur would try to negotiate, of course. He was gentlemanly like that.

Or, well… that… that could actually work. Wally's nose scrunched up as he thought. He obviously couldn't negotiate with Savage or the guards because it was his negotiations that led him here and he doubted Savage would give him another go. But negotiations didn't always need to be _formal_. Honestly, any sort of relationship was a negotiation of sorts. Friendship was a negotiation of sorts. Alliances even more so.

Wally could make alliances in this place. With the scientists, with the guards, with whoever he could get alone. Maybe, just maybe, he could talk his way out of this place.

CCCCCC

Cameron knew he was failing at his duties as de facto leader. He knew he was a sore replacement for Wally on the best of days. He also knew that this was so far from the best of days that Cameron wasn't sure if he'd ever see them again. Just… with Wally… with Wally _gone_ , Cameron had shut down. How could he do anything else? Wally was his cornerstone, his strength.

Without Wally… Cameron wasn't anyone.

At the very least, though, he wasn't alone in that sentiment. The overall mood of the Circus and New Holo City had been nothing short of depressed. All the kids who had been making such good progress in their therapy sessions lost any sort of hope or progress they'd made. They'd fallen into despondency at seeing their hero, their savior killed by the people they called heroes.

And that, Cameron thought, was the worst part of this entire situation. It wasn't just that Wally was… gone. It was that the _Team_ had done it. Why would they do that? Why did they do any of it? The Alliance had shown Cameron and the others the video of the Team attacking the New Holo City members without any sort of provocation. Sure, Selina (known better in some circles as Shimmer), Baran (known as Mammoth), and Deva (apparently her name was actually Devastation, but she went by Deva around friends) had certainly had some sort of criminal background. A lot of metas did. There wasn't much of a market for anything _but_ criminal activity for most metas, especially with the formerly rising tide of mandatory meta marker blood tests in workplaces.

That didn't matter though. The people who came to New Holo City were reformed. They were willing to give up the life of crime to find a life of peace and freedom in New Holo City. That was what the city had been _built_ for. It was there so metas didn't have to do bad things, didn't have to be scared. Those three had fit in so well at New Holo City, at Holo City even. They'd taken down Light bases like champs during the big battle on New Year's Eve. They were _heroes_ even if most of the metas of New Holo City didn't like that title. Even before this whole mess, there had been a bit of a disconnect between the heroes and the metas of the world.

Now? It took Cameron all he had to stop New Holo City from going public just to out the heroes.

That wasn't what mattered. Wally wouldn't have wanted his death to be in vain like that. He would have wanted the metas to band together, to take out the Light by themselves (the Light still needed to be taken out, they just couldn't work with the Team anymore, they _couldn't_ ), to keep themselves safe, no matter what. At least, Cameron thought that's what Wally would have wanted. Did it really matter now that he was… was _dead_?

Cameron broke down.

It wasn't the first time he'd broken down and it wouldn't be the last.

The force of his sobs knocked him to his knees (or maybe his knees were just weak with the idea that his best friend, his brother, his guiding star was gone, dead, vanished into the dark night air), threw him to the ground. He curled up there, wishing his was a few feet to the left and able to collapse on his bed instead of the ground. He curled up there, thinking that he deserved to be miserable and in pain when he'd let his best friend die just so he could talk to some people up in Russia.

He didn't know how long he cried there (it had to have been a long time because his throat was parched and a headache pulsed against his temples) but, eventually, someone came in and wrapped their arms around him.

Cameron tried to slow the force of his sobs when he realized it was Dinah coming in to help him. He was the leader now. He needed to be strong, to hold himself up better than this. The Circus deserved someone better than him, someone who wouldn't fall apart at the drop of a hat.

Dinah made a shushing sound into Cameron's hair, rocking him slightly, "It's okay, Cameron. You can cry. It's okay. You don't have to be strong for us. We know what it feels like to be hurting like this. You're only hurting yourself more by trying to separate yourself. Let us help. Let us all heal together, okay. We can be strong and aloof once we heal, alright?"

A small voice added a quiet, "Please," before there was a whooshing swish and Garfield's cat form crawled over Cameron's lap. He shoved his face into Cameron's stomach, curling up into a tight ball over Cameron's bent knees. Carefully, still crying, still _breaking_ , Cameron shifted himself, dropping onto his butt and pulling Garfield into his lap, allowing himself to lean more fully against Dinah, the way he would lean against Wally when they had a good crying session.

The thought only made Cameron cry harder.

He curled inward slightly, careful to not crush the cat in his lap but also not wanting to feel that comforting touch. He didn't deserve it. He wasn't there for Wally. He let Wally die and now he was letting Wally's team fall apart without him. He didn't deserve it. He _didn't_.

"You deserve the _world_ , Cam. You know he would agree with me if he was here. Please let us help you," Kelvin said, coming around on Dinah's other side and curling over all of them, a massive wall to block out the world for just a little while.

Billy was next, his usual sarcastic commentary rendered mute after Wally's death (not just his sarcastic commentary, actually – he hadn't said a single word since he found out Wally was dead. His silence had scared Cameron more than he could admit). He curled up against Kelvin, setting one supportive hand on Cameron's arm, a way to tether him to this world, to this family.

"I guess this is where everyone went," Harold said, flatly, no shine to his eyes after finding out that it was the Team who had betrayed them, who had killed Wally, "We were wondering." He crept further into the room, wheeling Lorraine in with him. They settled around the group, both of them making sure that they had at least one hand touching Cameron, a strong, steady support.

It wasn't the support that Cameron needed though. He needed Wally to be here. He needed his best friend. It should have been him. Cameron should have been the one who died, not Wally.

Jinx's voice cut through his self-deprecating thoughts (were they thoughts? Had Cameron been saying all of this out loud the entire time?), "Never say that. Don't cheapen his death like that. We lived and he didn't. That's that." Her voice cracked on the last word and she flung herself to the ground, hands shaking. Jinx hadn't been able to use her powers since finding out about Wally's death. She literally could not use the abilities, no matter how much she pushed and tried to pull the power to her fingertips. Maybe it was a blessing that she couldn't use her powers. Cameron couldn't be sure that Jinx wouldn't go after the Team all by herself.

Jinx snorted, the sound thick with tears, "You bet I would." It was an attempt at humor, an attempt to replace the quiet, sarcastic banter that Wally and Cameron had exchanged practically since they met each other.

It wasn't the same.

When the others realized that Cameron's sobs weren't lessening anytime soon, they all cuddled closer and let loose themselves. They were a mess, crying and shaking to their bones, but… they were together.

That was all Cameron could ask for at this point.

WWWWWW

Operation: Make Allies was also difficult. Wally really wasn't cut out for this whole undercover thing.

Mind, he had managed to make a few tentative alliances. None of them would be good for anything but some extra food or a little bit of conversation, but it was a start. Slower than he would have liked, but a start. Then again, he'd only been at this for half a day. Maybe that wasn't so bad. Maybe there was something to Aunt Iris's theory that speedsters were just naturally social people. Would Wally have been more sociable, some sort of charmer if he hadn't been through the camps?

Ah well, there really wasn't much of a way for him to know that, was there? No use losing himself to the could-have-beens. They were a waste of time and Wally didn't have time to waste. He had allies to make, negotiations to cement, sanity to hold onto with all his might even as it already started to slip away.

As much as Wally was trying to stay positive and upbeat, he knew that he was falling into some sort of fatalistic mindset. He couldn't quite help it. This place might not be the camps, but it was similar enough that Wally's mind _shattered_ with the thought. All that work, all that fighting, all that _pain_ just to escape and, where was he? Back in the arms of enemy. Of his own volition this time! What was _wrong_ with him?

Wally's life had been a painful, constant uphill battle against people who wanted to hurt him simply for being himself. He'd pushed and struggled and fought and clawed and crawled his way to what he'd thought was the top of the hill. He'd been sure that the win against the Light on New Year's was the beginning of his descent down the hill, the beginning of an era of easier living for Wally and the ones he loved.

It hadn't been any different, though. His people were still captured, enslaved, tortured. His friends and family were still getting hurt. The Light still existed. He was still being _brought back to the labs_.

Wally shook his head. He couldn't think like that. His trust in his team, in the Team (still a dumb name), in the whole alliance was what was keeping him afloat here. Well, that and pure stubbornness.

He needed to hold onto hope. He'd lived so long without it that he hadn't even really recognized it when he was with the Team. Without them, though? Alone and desperate for anything to keep his sanity tethered? He recognized it. He was hopeful. He believed in everyone. And, for once, he believed in himself.

With that thought in mind, he turned to the small slat in the door of his cell and started talking to the guard.

KKKKKK

In the end, the Team was left with no allies. They had gone to the Green Team to explain the situation and try to get their insight, but they had been blocked at the gates, no response given to the comms device. The Rogues gave them the same treatment. Apparently either the Circus or the Alliance had gotten to them first. The Hackers left without the Circus to entice them into joining. The Team didn't really know what was going on with Gorilla City, but they had no method of contacting them. It was just the Team, the Teen Titans, and the Justice League.

At least, Kaldur thought, he got to keep the Teen Titans. If Garth had left him, he didn't know what he would have done.

Still, it didn't explain where all the other teams went. It didn't explain why they all left. Kaldur knew that something about the battle with those three criminals was important, that something about that had set some of the groups off. He just didn't know _what_.

That was why he was knocking at Max's door, Garth standing on one side of him and Dick on the other. Kaldur was fairly certain that Blue Beetle was hovering somewhere further down the hallway, but he ignored that with the ease of a week of practice. Surprisingly, Blue Beetle had been one of the most upset at the idea of Wally betraying them. Kaldur hadn't thought that Wally and Blue Beetle had had more than a few passing conversations but apparently they'd gotten to know each other relatively well. Blue Beetle, after following the main Team members around to get more information, had quietly admitted that despite only knowing him a short time, Wally was one of his best friends. Kaldur's heart had broken at that admission.

The door in front of him swooshed open, Max blinking out at them in confusion. He squinted before asking, semi-seriously, "Am I in trouble?"

Kaldur let out a soft huff of almost-laughter, "No, you are not in trouble. We simply wished to ask you some questions. You were unavailable for this past week and we needed to ask about the trap that was set off."

Max's shoulders loosened slightly, and he pulled back into his room, gesturing for them to come in. After a moment's pause, Max stuck his head back out the door before calling for Blue Beetle to join them. Once Blue Beetle scrambled into the room, Max leaned up against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, "Yeah, sorry about that. I had to go out and enhance the rest of the traps by myself now that Supersonic's MIA or whatever we're calling it. What kind of questions do you have?"

MIA? Is that what Max thought of the situation? Did he not believe that Wally was a traitor? Kaldur pushed the thoughts away; now wasn't the time to examine them. Voice neutral, Kaldur asked, "Was the house we went to a Circus safe house?"

"Yes," Max said before adding, "All of the houses are either my safehouses, Circus safehouses, Argus safe houses, or Checkmate safehouses. But that specific one was a Circus safehouse, yes."

"Were the people of New Holo City told that the safe houses were being used for this?" Dick asked, leaned forward slightly in his seat, knee bouncing up and down anxiously.

Max's eyebrows drew together in confusion, "Most likely, they weren't. Why would Supersonic tell them? He tries to keep Circus stuff and New Holo City stuff separate. They're already at the city, so why would they go to the safehouses?"

"Do you know the citizens of New Holo City? Do you have some list or memory of them?" Kaldur asked.

Max's eyebrows drew even further inward, "I'm afraid I'm not sure where you're going with this. But to answer your question, no. Supersonic keeps that sort of information real close to his chest. No way would he tell me info about the people who lived at Holo City before I moved there. Do you… do you think the people at the safehouse were members of the City?"

"That is… a theory we are currently working with," Kaldur said cautiously, "It is not an official one, however. It is simply a personal quest. We think there might have been some sort of misunderstanding. When the four of us fought the criminals at the safehouse, they were oddly fearful and seemed to hold back when fighting us. It was unusual."

"You think they were part of Supersonic's people? Why not just say that then? The people of New Holo City know that the Circus is working with the Team now, right? Didn't they find out during that big battle on New Year's or whatever? I'm not certain on those facts since it was all hearsay for me," Max admitted.

Dick wrinkled his nose in frustration, "No, you're right. They know that we're working with the Circus."

"Not necessarily," Blue Beetle piped up, startling a few of them. He shifted sheepishly at their surprised, but eventually continued, "I mean, well, not every member of New Holo City fought on New Year's, right? Some of them stayed behind to move the city and because they couldn't fight or whatever, right? I think that's what W- uh, Supersonic said. We don't know how well the rumor mill works there. There's a chance some of them didn't know about it."

Garth shook his head, obviously trying to keep the facts he'd learned secondhand straight in his head, speaking slowly as he thought out loud, "If we are operating under the assumption that these three metahumans are part of New Holo City, then we must also assume that they were afforded the same level of security and secrecy as the rest of New Holo City. Despite that, Flash had images of the three of them in casual clothes, laughing and comfortable. Where would Flash have gotten those images?"

"The only place he could have gotten them was during the whole New Year's fight," Dick said, just as slowly, jaw clenching when he realized what Garth was trying to say, "So, they would have known that the Circus was working with the Team."

"And they would have said something in their defense when you guys fought at that safehouse," Blue Beetle finished, sighing.

Max tilted his head side to side, "I mean, not necessarily? Having been a scared metahuman before, just knowing that someone is the ally of an ally isn't necessarily enough to make me comfortable around them. Especially when it's someone they've fought before. You guys were the ones who sent them to the camps, right? That's not necessarily the kind of person I'm going to trust, no matter if Supersonic is working with you or not." Dick winced and Max hastened to add, "Not that that's your fault! It's just, this isn't an easy world for us, you know? Hard to trust people. Hard to know when people are being genuine. Some of us, like myself, take the easy route and we trust other metas to find people to trust. Supersonic trusts you guys, so I trust you guys. Otherwise, there's no way I would have come here, even though it would have sucked to know that the Titans were here where I couldn't help them."

Kaldur sighed, more bitter than he wanted to be, "It seems as if we discover new ways we have mistreated and misjudged metahumans every time we make a new decision."

"Don't generalize like that. You guys probably didn't really even interact with metahumans before all of this. You guys didn't do anything to us," Max protested.

Garth sighed, "No, Aqualad is correct. We might not have directly caused harm to a metahuman, but by not paying attention, by not standing up and doing anything, we indirectly caused much harm."

Max gave them a serious look, a sigh dancing on the edge of his lips. He swallowed the sigh before saying, "Look, that doesn't matter right now. What matters is those three metas. Do we really think they were some of Supersonic's metas?"

"They're all kids, right? Or, well, not 18, right? That means that they were probably some of the kids that Supersonic rescued during that whole world-splitting thing. The Team fought them, they were sent to the camps, Supersonic rescues them. They go to Holo City. They help fight against the Light. They go to New Holo City. They appear at that safehouse, scared and holding back. What happened between New Holo City and the safehouse? If we figure that out, we should be able to figure out everything else," Blue Beetle spelled out, ticking items off on his fingers as he went.

"They could have been threatened?" Dick suggested.

"You would have thought that someone would have known about that and it wouldn't be used against us by the Circus and the Alliance," Garth pointed out.

"Unless they're still being threatened," Max mused, "There's always a chance that they were told not to tell anyone or else, you know?"

Dick frowned, "How would they have even been threatened in the first place? Does anyone actually leave New Holo City for any reason? Like, why were they even in a position to be threatened in the first place?"

Hesitantly, Blue Beetle asked, "Didn't the Light find out where Holo City was?"

"The only reason they discovered Holo City's location was due to an evil member of Gorilla City who traded information for aid and resources," Kaldur answered. There was a moment's pause before he asked, throat tight, "Who… who knew about the new location? Who knew the location of New Holo City?"

Max frowned, "Only the members of New Holo City and the Circus."

"I really, really, _really_ hate to say this when we're here to prove Supersonic's innocence, but, if Supersonic was a traitor, he could have easily informed the Light about the location of New Holo City," Dick said, already wincing at his words.

Leaning his head back and rubbing a hand tiredly down his face, Max sighed, "That just… doesn't make sense. The _only_ possible reason Supersonic would go traitor would be if people he loved were being threatened. Or, well, that's what I think. I don't know. I don't actually know him all that well. You guys probably know him a lot better than I do. But still. I don't think he'd _ever_ betray his city. He's done _everything_ for them."

Kaldur's eyes widened with a realization, "Could it have not been a member of New Holo City itself that caused this problem?"

"What do you mean?" Dick asked cautiously.

"Tommy Terror of the Terror Twins was a prisoner in New Holo City, was he not? Is it not possible that he betrayed the city's location to the Light? From there, the Light could have easily threatened not only the three metas we fought, but also Supersonic," Kaldur explained, growing more excited with his reasoning.

The whites of Dick's mask widened, "That makes so much sense!"

"It's still based on theory, though," Max warned, "I'd definitely bring it up to the group, get everyone working on getting some hard proof. But, I'm impressed. That makes a lot of sense. Certainly more sense than Supersonic going evil all of a sudden."

Kaldur smiled, relieved beyond measure, "Then we will search until we have found evidence." His smile faded as a new thought occurred to him, "I… I never thought of it, but… if Supersonic has not betrayed us and joined the Light, then… where is he?"

WWWWWW

"He _what_?" Wally hissed, trying to keep as quiet as he could.

The guard sent him a sympathetic glance, lips twisting in commiseration, "I'm not sure how all he did it. I heard someone in IT took the last part of your conversation with Savage and messed with the audio so tone wouldn't translate and made the video real low-res so it was harder to make out facial expressions. That's what the Team would have seen. Not the best, you know? And, apparently, one of the metas who's real good at inducing visions made that big group of metas see you die. I think you were killed by someone? Not sure. Savage's real good at them mind games though, yeah?"

"Yeah," Wally echoed lowly, reeling with the information he'd been given. He had no doubt in his mind as to who 'killed' him. Savage had to have had the heroes killing him. It would be the perfect way to split everyone up. There was no way that the teams were working together at this point. Maybe later, in the future, they would figure out that it was a ruse, a set-up, and they would be able to pull themselves together again, but… Wally just hoped they wouldn't be too late.

The guard made a slight noise, pulling Wally's attention back to her, "That's me out. The next guard's coming in. Talk to you again tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah, of course. Tell your kid I'm rooting for them in the next game," Wally said, trying to put as much emotion into his suddenly numb voice as he could.

Giving him a sympathetic smile, the guard waved as she left, "Will do, kid."

Wally sat back against a bare wall, hands shaking. How would they come back from this? What could they possibly do? What could _Wally_ do? If he could just escape without alerting anyone, then he could tell them what happened. He could explain that the Team _didn't_ kill him.

Wally's eyes slid shut in despair when he realized what this _really_ meant. The Circus thought he was dead. The entirety of New Holo City thought he was dead. They would be mourning for him.

Hands shaking, Wally tried to stop the tears from falling. He hadn't cried since he'd gotten here. He was determined to not let Savage have the satisfaction of crying. Not this time. Never. Wally wasn't a prisoner; he was a martyr and he was going to make sure that Savage knew that. He just… he just…

Wally sobbed, curling in on himself. Was anyone even looking for him? With them thinking he was dead, no one would come looking. He was alone. He was completely, irrevocably alone.

CCCCCC

Cameron's hands shook with the knowledge that he was in the same building as the people who'd killed his best friend. He wasn't sure if it was fear or grief or rage that made his hands shake, but he couldn't deny the result. He fumbled his way through the corridors, trying to avoid detection. He just needed to talk to _one specific person_ and then he could get out of there. That was it.

Carefully, he crept further down the hallway, eyes narrowed in concentration. Not that one, not that one, not that one, not that – wait! That was it.

Glancing once more down the hallway to either side, Cameron leaned as close to the door as possible. Quickly, quietly, Cameron knocked on the door.

Starfire had barely pulled it open before Cameron was slipping inside, sliding the door shut as quickly as he could without slamming it. Starfire gaped at him for a moment, eyes flicking between him and the door. After a moment, she composed herself, clearing her throat slightly before giving him a slightly forced smile, "Would you like to take a seat?" Her voice lilted up again, a clear sign of her confusion.

Cameron shook his head, resisting the urge to pace. The faster he did this, the faster he could leave. Voice firm, Cameron lightly grabbed Starfire by the shoulder, making sure she was looking at him, "Star, you know I would never tell you to what to do. I respect you too much for that. But I am going to _strongly_ recommend something, okay? Please, please, _please_ leave the Team. I know that you're good friends with a lot of the Team members and their mentors, but they're dangerous."

He glanced nervously around him. Starfire looked like she was about to interrupt him, but Cameron didn't let her. His voice was rough, his hands shaking, "Star, Star, they… the Team _killed_ Supersonic." She just blinked at him, blank, uncomprehending. Cameron jostled her shoulder lightly, "Star, please get your team out of here. I don't want them to be in danger."

Starfire shook her head, wild red hair whipping around her. Her eyes were wide and horrified, "I… what? Icicle, what? I do not… I do not understand. Supersonic is not dead. He… he joined the Light. What are you saying? He is not dead. _Icicle_ …"

Cameron gaped at her before his fists clenched at his sides in rage. He hissed, " _That's_ what they've been telling you about where he is? Are you serious? Those…. Those…" He let out a wordless sound of rage before calming himself down, trying to pull back the ice that had crept around his feet in his anger, "Starfire, I have _thousands_ of witnesses. The entirety of New Holo City saw him be killed by the Team. We… we went to the… to where he was… there was blood everywhere, Star. We got it tested and it was all his. And there was evidence of a fight around the room, evidence that included batarangs and water that probably came from Aqualad's water bearers. There were arrowheads and evidence that someone telekinetically threw things around. I can't stay any longer. I have to get back but… please get out of here. You know the Alliance now. They can take you in, get you somewhere safe. They'll take a call from you. Please, Star. I just… I have to go."

He turned and ran, not listening to her shout behind him. He slid around corners, trying to make sure that he wasn't seen. It sucked that the Teen Titans were sticking so close to headquarters after this whole mess. He would have much preferred to talk to them outside of headquarters, especially outside of the residential area. Whatever.

Cameron was almost to the extraction point where a teleporter would be on his signal when a door opened directly in front of him. On reflex, he skidded to a stop to avoid crashing into the person. His heart nearly stopped when he saw who it was.

It was Artemis.

She gaped at him, eyes wide, hair mussed. There were dark bags under her eyes and a few new scratches along one shoulder.

Cameron had done his best to not think about her, to not think about her role in killing his best friend. He'd shoved all thoughts of the blonde beauty from his mind. He'd forced himself to forget her completely. Because… because he'd really, truly fallen for her over the months he'd been with the Team. And the thought of her doing this… it clashed with his image of her, made him wonder if he ever really knew her. Was he some sort of pet project? Some sort of sick game for her to play? Did she truly care for him? Even when she was willing to kill someone he cared about? What did she think of him? It _didn't make sense_.

So, Cameron ran. He didn't face her. He didn't even wait to hear her say anything (that was a lie – he heard her scream his name, heard the love, the earnest pain in her voice, the way it cracked in frustration and grief).

Cameron called the teleporter and was gone in a single, bright flash of light.

WWWWWW

Wally knew that none of the people he charmed were going to let him out. They were too scared to do anything else. They were too scared to even bring a message to the heroes. Savage was, well, savage enough to make sure that everyone working under him would think hard about betraying him like that.

Wally knew that, but it was still frustrating. He _needed_ to let the others know that he was alive and hadn't betrayed them. He needed them to know that he'd managed to convince the lead scientist to botch the results on the meta-making research he was doing. The man had been practically at a break-through point in his research, but Wally had managed to make him realize how horrible it was to force someone's metagene to activate. The man would delay the research for as long as possible.

He needed them to know that he'd managed to get someone to pass his messages along inside the building, that he'd managed to convince the lead politics advisor to slow down his advances, to claim that was a viable attack plan. Wally needed his team, his _family_ to know that he was still trying.

He needed them to know that he needed them.

KKKKKK

Kaldur and the others had moved into a meeting room and were just moving to call for a building-wide meeting when two girls skidded into the room, speaking at the same time.

Starfire shouted with her eyes wide and her red hair falling in knots around her head, "You need to call a meeting right now! Icicle told me something!"

Artemis was practically shrieking, her own hair loose from her ponytail and whipped into a mess from her running, "Icicle was here! He was here only seconds ago!"

For a second, Kaldur couldn't respond, he was so shocked. Then he jolted into action, slamming his hand on the button that would alert everyone that they needed to meet in the main room, no matter if they were at the base or not. Thankfully, it only took a few short minutes for everyone to race into the room, people dressed in a range from fully outfitted in their suit to flat-out pajamas.

Cyborg was the last to come in, muttering, "I hate it when you guys hit an alarm like that. I was in the middle of charging! Do you know how annoying it is to have to get myself all unplugged when I'm in the middle of charging?"

Raquel side-eyed him, "Er, no, actually." Cyborg deflated.

M'gann cleared her throat gently, "What did you need, Aqualad?"

"Ah," Kaldur said, glancing over to the two panting women next to him, "Perhaps my message isn't as important as theirs. I will let them go first."

"Thanks, Aqualad," Artemis said after glancing to Starfire for permission to speak first, "I was just leaving my room when Icicle was running through the hallways." She had to pause for a moment as the group erupted into loud mutters. Once they calmed down a little bit, she continued, "He skidded to a stop when he saw me but then he kept running. I followed him as far as I could, but he must have had a teleporter or had someone who could teleport because he disappeared in a flash of light. I… I don't know why he was here."

"I can answer that," Starfire said, voice tight, "And it is not a good reason."

"Please do," Kaldur said, "But first, please, sit down."

Once everyone had gotten seated, Starfire began her story, "Icicle knocked on my door and closed it as soon as I let him in. He told me that I had to get the Teen Titans out of here, that they were in danger here."

Low muttering began again. Pantha inched closer to Jericho, "What did he mean by that?"

Starfire swallowed harshly, "He… he told me that the entirety of New Holo City witnessed… witnessed the Team killing Supersonic."

Dead silence.

Kaldur stuttered out, "I… I am sorry, I do not understand."

Starfire shook her head, "I do not either. All I know is that he said that all of New Holo City witnessed this. He said that he went to the scene of the crime and there was a _lot_ of Supersonic's blood around the room. He said that there were batarangs, arrowheads, etc. That there was a lot of evidence that you all were there."

There was a long moment of silence again as everyone digested that information. Kaldur was numb. Wally… dead?

Hot Spot broke the silence, throwing himself back from the table and standing up. His hands were engulfed in flames as he hissed into the silence, "Then what, _exactly_ , are we still doing here, Starfire?"

Garth looked up sharply, "Are you serious, Hot Spot? How could you possibly believe they did this?"

Pantha spoke for him, words slow as she tried to figure out what she was saying, "It's not necessarily that we believe they did this. It's… it's that there's a lot of proof, apparently, that they did. Maybe it's better to investigate this sort of thing from _outside_ the base of the people you're investigating."

Donna Troy – who was going by Troia now that there was a new Wonder Girl – glared at Pantha, "No, we should discuss this situation with them. We have no proof other than Icicle's word. I have known some of these heroes for years now. I know that they would _never_ kill another being. Never on purpose and never out of maliciousness. Besides, when would they have committed this act? They were monitored either by Max or by the cameras in the infirmary from the moment Supersonic left the building last. Whatever happened to Supersonic, it was _not_ caused by the Team."

Pantha's jaw clenched but she didn't say anything further. Hot Spot mouthed something to himself, clearly fact-checking the situation. Eventually, he slumped into his seat, "Just saying _for the future_ , if something like this happens again, I don't want to be in the same room as the people being accused of murder, yeah?"

Starfire smiled softly at him, the fond smile of a leader coming down from an adrenalin high, "Of course, friend Hot Spot." Hot Spot huffed but didn't say anything further. He slouched down into his seat and glared out at everyone.

"Okay, so this brings up a new question: what _actually_ happened?" Zatanna asked, rubbing wearily at her eyes.

"I hate to say this, but let's just make it clear that we are working under the assumption that Supersonic is with the Light through one capacity or another, right?" Max asked, glancing around.

"We don't know that for sure," Batgirl argued, "If he betrayed us, then yeah, he's with the Light. If he didn't betray us, then someone set that whole situation up and we can't assume it's the Light."

Max gaped at her incredulously, "You have many enemies with enough resources, smarts, and vendetta against you to pull that off? Keep in mind that the entirety of New Holo City apparently witnessed the Team killing Supersonic. Whoever did this had also amassed enough cast-offs of your weapons and info on your fighting techniques to convince Icicle and probably the Alliance that it was you who got into a fight with Supersonic. The only one I can think of who could do this is the Alliance, sweetheart."

"Don't call me sweetheart," Batgirl muttered before capitulating, "Okay, that makes sense. I'm just saying we should at least _slightly_ keep our options open. There are a lot of unknowns in this situation."

Dick glanced to Kaldur and the Atlantean nodded in response. It was time to give their own information. Dick sighed before standing, gathering the attention of the room, "We're about to add more questions. We've got a theory that doesn't have a lot of hard evidence, but it's definitely got a lot of circumstantial proof." He broke down the realizations that Kaldur and the others had gone through earlier that evening.

The eyes of Blue Beetle's mask widened before he said triumphantly, "What about this? Supersonic gets a call bringing him to New Holo City, right? Finds out that the people there are being threatened. I don't know how. Something. He goes to a separate location on orders of Savage. Savage gets him to agree to do something – probably give himself over to the Light – in return for the safety of New Holo City. To make sure that Supersonic's disappearance does the most damage, Savage very carefully directs the conversation, predicting the responses that Supersonic would give, making sure that he said the worst possible things he could have said in that situation based on the video we were sent. To get rid of the Circus, Savage gets someone with mind control – surely there's someone out there powerful enough or maybe he used several people – to show the whole New Holo City – who are probably gathered together somewhere, making it easier for whoever's doing the mind control or whatever – a vision of Supersonic being killed. Then, Savage plants the false evidence before or during or after sending the videos out or whatever."

"If that is the case," Kaldur finished, "then Supersonic is in a great deal of danger."

WWWWWW

Even with the new alliances he'd made, Wally couldn't stop the experiments. He couldn't make friends with everyone and the degrading comments some of the guards had given him had flayed some part of him open. The silent disregard of the scientists was worse, though. He really was just a thing, a simple object there for study. He wasn't a person at all to them.

Maybe he really wasn't a person at all. He was already a dead man and a traitor to the people who he cared about. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine him as nothing, to picture him as a slab of meat for the scientists to dissect.

(Wally thought, just maybe, the scientists had taken a piece of his soul with them when they'd taken his blood earlier).

(Wally thought, just maybe, he'd finally snapped).

(Wally thought, just maybe, in the shadow of the worried, pitying glances of his new allies, that there wasn't any hope for him at all, that he was doomed to remain here for the rest of eternity, a useless, pitiful, hurt _thing_ ).

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the large amount of POV changes! I was trying something out, but I'm not sure how successful it was. Also, sorry for the sad ending, haha. I really had meant to end it on a happier note. Thanks for reading!**


	60. Chapter 60

**Author's Note: Here I am again! Read, review, and enjoy!**

KKKKKK

The realizations that the Team and Teen Titans had come to together were profound, but they were hard to find evidence for. Beyond even that, if they found evidence, they had no one to present the evidence too. As helpful and friendly as the Alliance and the Circus had been in the past, they had not given any information on whereabouts or contact locations for themselves. Now that they had both withdrawn from the alliance, the Team could not contact either group to present their evidence.

It was more than a little frustrating.

It was not, however, impossible.

Wonder Girl and Troia trudged into the room, expressions bleak and downcast. Wonder Girl's hands were shaking. Kaldur glanced up at them in concern, "Are you alright?"

Troia smiled, "We're fine, really. We actually have some good news. There was just… it was a difficult place to be. Wonder Girl and I managed to get into the communications building of the camp that holds Tuppence Terror. We had intended to get _into_ the camp long enough to speak to Terror, but we were unable to go further than the communications building. The security at the camp was _disturbingly_ good. Wonder Girl had the idea to look around the comms building while we were there. We found a transcription of a conversation between Tuppence and Tommy Terror. Wonder Girl and I figure that Savage knew that Tommy would, at some point, attempt to communicate with Tuppence and he convinced the camps to allow that communication by keeping the girl's own cellphone on hand. He probably used that call to track the location of New Holo City. At least, that is our theory based on the fact that her phone was there and that she had a conversation where Tommy asked her to run away to New Holo City."

Raven frowned at them, "That's good news. Why are your emotions all over the place?"

Wonder Girl teared up immediately, causing Raven's eyes to widen in alarm. After a second, Wonder Girl blinked her tears away, swallowing harshly, "The camps… are _awful_ places. We weren't even able to get _into_ it and I'm already… already _traumatized_! We could hear some of the things the guards were saying, and we could hear the – the people being exp – experimented on." Wonder Girl stopped there, taking in one big shuddering breath. Troia put a careful, sisterly hand on her shoulder, eyes dark with worry.

"Well," Batgirl says carefully into the pained silence that followed Wonder Girl's admission, "We've got some more good news. You know how Robin's hacked back through the Alliance's video call to call them again? We all know trying to call them again doesn't work, but the two of us managed to hack it back to its source. We're pretty sure that's the main Alliance base and where the Flash is most likely to be, but… we've got the location. It's at this old building in France. It'll be hard to get into – the thing is built like the worst kind of maze – but it's better than we'd had before."

Troia let out a relieved breath of air, "We have something that is – not evidence, but a potential outlet for the threatening we believe occurred, and we have the location of the Alliance. Do we have any potential information on where the Circus might be?"

"Ah," Kaldur said, "Perhaps we should allow the Alliance to approach the Circus about this issue. The Circus would likely be… less _amenable_ to an attempt at communication."

Behind him, Dick muttered only loud enough for Kaldur to hear, "We'll see what _Uncle_ Barry feels about that claim." Kaldur grimaced.

Wonder Girl tentatively put her hand in the air, "So, um, why do we need to know where the Alliance is? I mean, weren't the Teen Titans going to reach out to them and ask for help 'escaping' the Team? Then all that needs to happen is the Teen Titans tell the Alliance what's up. Why do we need to know where they're going? It's not like the Alliance is going to _hurt_ them, right?" She paused, expression falling slightly, "Right?"

"We do not believe that the Alliance would hurt them. We are, however, concerned that the Alliance will not believe the Teen Titans' claims. We are concerned that the Alliance will think that we, the Team, are tricking the Teen Titans into believing all of this. It has been decided that there is a better chance of convincing the Alliance if the Team were to give them the information," Kaldur explained.

Wonder Girl frowned, "You think they're more likely to believe people who potentially killed their friend and then tracked down their main location?"

Kaldur blinked, coughing slightly to hide his surprise, "Ah, well…"

Thankfully, a new voice interrupted his verbal floundering, "They're going to be more likely to believe Aqualad and the others because I'm going to be there." Green Lantern stood in front of them, frustration and stress adding lines to his face, "Flash might not trust you guys, but I like to believe that the fact that I was off-world for the vast, vast majority of this and our mutual bonding over the time the Alliance worked with the League will make him at least willing to hear me out. And believe me, he's going to want to believe that Supersonic's alive. A lot of people will listen to anything, take any risk to prove that someone who's supposedly dead isn't actually dead."

Kaldur nodded to him gratefully, "Thank you for your assistance, Green Lantern." He poured as much sincerity into his tone as possible. Over the months he'd known him, Wally had become one of Kaldur's best friends and the thought that the speedster could be suffering somewhere hurt him more than anything. Kaldur just wanted to get all these misunderstandings out of the way before Wally could be hurt any more than he already had been.

Hal glanced at him guiltily, blushing a little and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "Not sure I really deserve all that. I'm mainly doing this so Maser doesn't hate me anymore. I just got him back and I'm not really thrilled about losing him, you know?"

Giving him a small smile, Kaldur said gently, "I know. There have been a lot of setbacks in our time with the Circus, but I believe that if we can get through this then we will have gotten through our final challenge. This is a desperate, mad ploy by Savage. He had to have known that it would not hold up for long under true scrutiny. Savage is slipping and we are finally achieving the upper hand."

"Uh," Blue Beetle said, expression already apologetic even through his mask as he walked into the room, "I think I know why Savage is slipping and I'm not sure it means we have the upper hand. I think the upper hand goes to someone else. Actually, it _definitely_ goes to someone else."

"The point, Blue Beetle?" Batgirl reminded, as gently as she could through her mounting irritation.

Blue Beetle swallowed harshly, "Okay, so I don't have a ton of information yet. I was actually looking for Green Lantern or some other space-y person to ask more about this, but, well. Okay, let me back up a little. Supersonic, Wonder Girl, and I were having lunch the other day and we figured out that Savage is doing all of this out of some misguided attempt to make the world stronger for _something_. We figured we could look back and pinpoint a moment that would make him think we needed to be stronger. I _finally_ found old, old, _old_ references to an incident that Savage was involved in. Apparently, some sort of creature called Darkseid dropped himself in front of an army Savage was involved in and then promptly decimated. Then Savage made some sort of deal with Darkseid that included a _temporary_ peace treaty. I think the peace treaty thing is up and Darkseid is coming back. And, like, Darkseid sounds _crazy_ strong. Obviously, I don't know this because I only had, like, one thing that mentioned him and most of the mentioning was the confused rambles of some scared soldier who just saw a creature with way superior technology drop itself out of the sky. _Anyways_ , I think Darkseid is an alien who is coming to destroy Earth."

Troia groaned, aggravatedly kicking the wall, " _Great_ , just _great_. _More_ enemies for us to fight!"

Kaldur turned to Hal, "Have you ever heard of this Darkseid?"

Hal narrowed his eyes in concentration, "The name sounds familiar. Hey, ring, do we know who Darkseid is?"

There was a pause before a hologram appeared above Hal's ring (greatly interesting most of the people in the room, as many of them had yet to interact much with a Green Lantern), showing what was clearly an alien. Kaldur winced slightly at the thought. He should know better about assuming species based on appearances. If he hadn't already been aware of Kelvin or Garfield's status as metahumans before meeting them, he could have easily mistaken them for aliens.

Of course, this was a Green Lantern ring and there was already suspicion that Darkseid was an alien, but still. The point stood. Kaldur should not make these assumptions. He _knew_ better.

Shaking his head to stop the onslaught of disappointed thoughts, Kaldur focused in on the image floating about Hal's ring. It was an enormously large man with thick, heavily muscled reddish-grey skin interspersed by straight, thin black lines. He wore a slate grey tunic over black pants and black boots, a red-lined belt cinching the outfit together. He had on a slate grey helmet that curved around the sides of his head and under his chin. His eyes were pure red, no iris, no sclera, no pupil.

Raven grimaced at the image, "Well he doesn't look evil at all."

Blue Beetle glanced back and forth between the image hovering above Hal's ring and a piece of paper clutched in his hand, "Yeah, that's definitely the person being described by this soldier. We can be almost certain that Savage and this guy have interacted."

"So, who is he?" Dick asked, leaning forward eagerly in his chair.

Hal nodded to his ring as it began to speak, voice cool and female, "Darkseid is of the species New God and is the current monarch of Apokolips. Darkseid has spent the last several centuries taking over planets across the sectors of the known universe. The singular planet that Darkseid attempted to concur but did not take over was Earth. His main weapon of choice is his Omega Beams, which are fired out of his eyes. The Omega Beams can be a concussive blast that eliminates a target, a disintegrating force that eliminates a target, or a resurrective force that can bring a previously eliminated target back to life. Darkseid also has his Omega Sanction which allows him to trap living organisms in increasingly worse alternate realities. In addition, Darkseid can teleport through space and time, can move with great speed, has a nanosecond reaction time, can increase his size, has telepathy, has telekinesis, and can create psionic avatars. There are no known weaknesses."

Blue Beetle laughed a little hysterically, "Can you see why I said I'm pretty sure _he's_ the one with the upper hand now?"

Dick swallowed, "Have I ever mentioned how much I hate it when things say, 'no known weaknesses?'"

Hal shook his head, expression determined under his mask, "I think it's great when they say that. As far as I'm concerned, it means that the enemy is cocky. It means that we get to _discover_ his weaknesses. And you know what the number one weakness of guys like this is? He's _alone_. We've got a whole team backing us up. And we're about to make sure that our team gets even bigger. Let's go get the Alliance and the Circus back, yeah?"

BBBBBB

Barry had, admittedly, not been working all that well under his grief. Thankfully, the others knew what had happened and were more than willing to pick up his slack, but it still made Barry feel guilty.

Well, it made him feel guilty in the rare moments he could feel anything past the crippling guilt and grief.

There were moments (rare, dangerous moments) where his thoughts weren't quite on straight and he was trying to be the leader he'd come to be, and he couldn't make sense of the world anymore where he'd wonder why he was so upset. Had he really known Wally for that long? Wally wasn't even related to him by blood. Wally had been so resistant to falling into a familial relationship. Barry couldn't even say what Wally's favorite color was, if he liked any shows, what kind of books he read. Why was Barry so upset? Sure, losing an ally and potential friend was a bad thing and he could understand being hurt by it. He couldn't understand being as hurt as he was.

Then, of course, Barry would get over whatever funk his head was in and he'd feel unaccountably guilty for the thoughts that had coursed through his brain. The next day would always be spent trapped in a pit of guilt, ranging from his guilt at feeling that way to his guilt at not working hard enough on Wally's trust (if Wally had trusted Barry a little more, then maybe he would have gone to Barry before going to that warehouse and he wouldn't be dead) to his guilt at helping Wally to trust the Team (it had been Barry and the rest of the Alliance who had taken that final step in trust first, showing their identities to the heroes).

The next couple days would be spent feeling nothing but grief, the loss of his nephew, of his fellow speedster, of his friend, of his ally crashing into him like a tidal wave.

The worst part of all of it, of course, was the way it hit Iris. She was _devastated_ , her grief leading her to throw herself into work (she had, thankfully, refused to leave the house which made it easier for Barry to keep her from working herself to the bone).

A day or so after finding out that Wally had been killed by the Team, Iris had admitted to Barry that Wally's death was making her doubt every decision she'd made. She _knew_ in her heart that she'd been making the best decisions she could have been, but Wally's death still gave her that shaky doubt that Barry had never wanted her to feel.

He couldn't help but feel that shaky doubt, too, though. If the two of them had escaped with Wally and his family when they went on the run, all of this could have been prevented. Of course, Barry knew that there was no reason for them to have run with the Wests. It was silly to think they would. Why would the two of them uproot the family just because Barry had superspeed? It was ludicrous!

But they could have. They could have. And when Wally got his superspeed, they would have been able to train him and help him and make sure that he accepted his powers as a good part of himself. He would have been able to help Barry when he was older. It would have been perfect.

But it was stupid to think that they would have taken the Wests on the run with them.

They could have told the Wests that they were on the run, though. When Wally got his powers, they could have tried to find a way to reach out to them. Maybe Iris and Barry could have left a communication device with Rudy and Mary. When Wally's metagene was activated, Rudy would have called them, and Barry could have picked him up and brought him to safety. They could have done that.

(Barry knew, deep in his heart, that that wouldn't have worked any better. The reason Wally ended up in the camps was because Rudy had put him there, had called the Collection Agency to take him away. Rudy believed the propaganda, was convinced that metahumans needed to be 'fixed' and that the camps could do that. Even if Rudy didn't turn Barry in as soon as he told Rudy what he was, Rudy would have probably still sent Wally away when the time came).

Barry shook his head, trying to shrug off the depressive funk that had settled over him just _thinking_ about his grief. He'd convinced some administrative ladies from the Alliance to go over to his house and stay with Iris today. Barry was going to get back to his actual job. He didn't have anything against Iris continuing to grieve and he'd let her process for as long as she needed to, but Barry knew he needed to get out and do things if he was going to get over his own grief.

Cisco put a careful, comforting hand on Barry's shoulder, "You need a minute, buddy?"

"Not right now, thanks," Barry said. The others had been good about being there when he needed them without hovering which he was immeasurably grateful for. He didn't know what he'd do without the rest of the command team of the Alliance.

Barry cleared his throat and continued going through the reports from his undercover agents. They were all moving in on various organizations and a lot of them were asking for follow-up orders. Barry knew that Patrick had been trying to work on as many cases as he could, but he wasn't able to get to all of them. Barry was back, now. Patrick wouldn't have to be overwhelmed anymore.

Cisco pulled away after a moment, muttering something about an alarm. It was barely seconds later when he showed up again, almost vibrating with nervous energy, "The Teen Titans just called! Icicle told them what the _Team_ did and now they want help. They got out of the headquarters, but they still need to be brought somewhere safe."

There was a long (too long) moment where Barry stared at him blankly, not entirely certain if he'd heard that correctly. Then Barry jerked out of chair, almost sending it tipping over behind him.

He swirled into his Flash suit, barely staying long enough for Cisco to shout the coordinates at him before he was off, going to rescue the Teen Titans.

Barry stopped in front of the gathered group, almost skidding (reminding him painfully of how Wally always, _always_ skidded to a stop since he hadn't mastered slowing down and now would never get the chance) as he tried to stop. The team was looking pitifully up at him, rain sliding down their skin, matting their hair down and making them look like bedraggled puppies. It was as strangely endearing as it was sad, so Barry forced something approaching a smile onto his face and asked, "Who's first?"

He was a little put out that two of them threw up when he ran them (Tempest did it first and Pantha did it second), but he couldn't exactly blame them. An unfortunate amount of people threw up when Barry ran them places.

Once all of them were gathered in the main room together, Iris's second in command (a young teenaged girl named Linda Park who'd followed Iris's reporting career religiously before going on the run when her friend exhibited strange metallokinesis abilities and needed to escape) waiting to lead them all to their rooms, Barry turned to them and asked quietly, "Are you alright? You aren't hurt, are you? I probably should have asked that earlier."

"No, friend Flash, our bodies are not hurt," Starfire answered, eyes trained on the ground, "Our minds, however, are."

Somewhat awkwardly, Barry asked, "Did you want to go ahead and get set up in your rooms? We can talk some tomorrow morning."

"That would be most agreeable," Starfire said, her eyes still locked on the floor. Barry wondered if that was her response to grief. Was the grieving process different on whatever planet she was from? Which planet _was_ she from? If the Teen Titans did more than just seek shelter from the Alliance, if they actually joined, then Starfire would be the first alien who had ever joined. Insofar, the Alliance had only been made up of humans and metahumans.

Barry nodded to them, trying to force another soft smile on his face, "Alright. Linda here will just get you to your rooms. She'll show you guys where the nearest phone is. The phone calls straight to this room and someone will be here to help you if you need anything. I'll let Linda explain the rest."

Starfire nodded to him, still refusing eye contact. It made Barry sigh, but he was at least tactful enough to wait until they were out of the room to do that. Cisco waited a good long time to make his own comment (some metas or, well, other people had enhanced hearing and he didn't want to be overheard), "Did you see Cyborg? He's an actual, honest to goodness, _cyborg_. I'm so fascinated. Do you think he'd let me look at some of his tech?"

"That sounds inappropriate," Barry frowned at him.

Cisco made a disgusted face, "Ew, Barry. Head out of the gutter."

Barry sighed, "What are we going to do with them?"

Eyes dark, Cisco sat next to Barry, putting his hand on the speedster's shoulder, "The same thing we do with every kid who comes to us. We'll either give them a home or take them home. It's the best we can do."

"I _hate_ seeing kids come through here," Barry admitted, a sudden vehemence taking over his voice, "I _hate_ it. Why do kids have to go through all of this? Why have we had to take in and train kids who are more afraid of their own powers than they are of the people trying to hurt them? Why does it sometimes feel like the only reason we find more adults than kids is because the kids don't make it? And these ones! They're _fighting_ , Cisco! You know that they've been out there in battles ten times more dangerous than anything we've done! You _know_ that they want to get back out and keep doing the same thing, even now!"

Biting his lip for a moment, Cisco worked up the courage to ask, "Is this about the Teen Titans? Or… is it about Wally?"

Barry slumped like he was a puppet whose strings had all been cut, "Both. Probably mainly about Wally. He… if he didn't have such a strong hero-sense, then he'd probably still be alive right now."

Cisco frowned, "If he didn't have such a strong hero-sense, him and the rest of the Circus would still be in the camps. All the people in New Holo City would be in whatever horrible place they were rescued from."

"I _know_ ," Barry lamented, "That's half of what frustrates me! There's no winning! No matter what anyone does, the kids don't win! They're hurt and abandoned and forced into this horrible world! What did they do to deserve that? They had no choice in the matters, no bearing in the discussions. Why do kids need to be hurt because of the _stupid_ decision of adults?"

Cisco's eyes slid shut, his hand still tightly gripping Barry's shoulder, half to comfort Barry and half to keep Cisco upright, "There's no reason, Bar. You know that as well as anyone does. Life isn't fair. All that horrible stuff. I know that doesn't make anything better and is frustrating, but… not all adults are like that. Not all adults completely ignore what kids are going through. Kids don't always get the worst bits of things. And for those who do… we can't stop what's already happened. But we can try to prevent it from happening to more kids. That's what we do here. That's what the Alliance is. We're trying to stop these horrible things from happening to more people. To more kids."

Barry slumped into the comfort of Cisco's hand, "It's just not fair." Cisco didn't say anything in response. There was nothing _to_ say.

If Barry slept at all that night, it was in small cat-nap bursts that were only really practical for speedsters. He typically tried to avoid doing things like that, especially when Iris was waiting at home for him, but…

There were things that needed to be done, work that called to him. (Barry thought, maybe, that this was the same sort of working frenzy he'd been trying to pull Iris back from since Wally died, but the thought had barely formed before he'd flicked it away, choosing to instead focus on his work).

The next thing Barry really knew, Patrick and Julian were walking into the main room, expressions of confusion merging into matching expressions of concern. Swallowing, Patrick asked carefully, "Were you here all night?"

Barry's jaw clenched but he still answered honestly, "Yes." He stayed quiet after that, hoping that the others would pick up on his _very_ strong desire to _not_ talk about it.

The two glanced at each other for a moment before turning back to Barry. Julian sighed, "Is there a reason the Teen Titans are wandering around the living quarters?"

"Is there a reason you were in the living quarters?" Barry asked, slightly taken aback. The main team was very rarely in the living quarters, all having their own homes elsewhere. After a moment, Barry blinked and flushed, "Uh, sorry. Yes, there's a reason. They left the Team and asked for us to come pick them up."

Julian's mouth opened for a moment before he snapped it shut. Then he winced and opened it again, "Look, you know I hate to be the kind of person who says these things, but… are we sure they're really looking for protection? I mean, how do we know this isn't a ploy?" Patrick sighed and Julian aimed a defensive glare at him.

Barry rubbed a hand over his face, "What would they even do? You know we disable all trackers before people get in. I wasn't going to _not_ do that even though we rushed to get here. I take everyone's security very seriously."

"I'm not doubting that!" Julian defended, "I'm just saying that we don't really know what Cyborg has going on. For all we know, he's got something. Or Starfire's got some alien tech that we don't know how to counter. They could be… be…"

"Be doing what, Julian?" Patrick asked tiredly, "The Team might be the way they are, but we can't distrust _everyone_. It'll only cause problems for us in the long run."

Julian flushed slightly, "Can we not? Was it not one our main objectives to distrust everyone when we started? Every person who heard about us who _wasn't_ us was an enemy. That's what we decided. They either joined us or they didn't hear about us at all. That's how we've managed to stay alive, to keep helping people for so many years. Now the heroes all know who we are! The same heroes who _killed_ the leader of an underground meta group! I think we have more reason to distrust people now than we did when we started this organization!"

"The Light needs to be stopped," Patrick argued.

"I'm not saying that they shouldn't be. I'm saying that we should go back to doing it the way we've always done things: from so far into the shadows that we don't know what light looks like. This up in airs stuff? These alliances? This full-frontal attack? That's not us!" Julian shouted.

Barry shouted back, "Then maybe we should change! What good have we done? Yeah, we've helped a lot of people, but at a slow pace. Too slow! It allowed so many people to be hurt! We need to get up and help others this way! We weren't going fast enough. Patience is all well and good, but people are getting hurt! This is the perfect time to come _out_ of the shadows! With so many people finally starting to _see_ things, it's the _perfect_ time." His voice was almost a whisper by the end of his rant and Julian and Patrick were looking at him with eyes shining with their own private grief, with their barely there pity. Barry slumped back into his chair during the ensuing silence.

He'd barely gotten comfortable before there was a quiet knock on the door and the Teen Titans were standing in the entry way, expression drawn and nervous. Barry tried to contain his sigh as he motioned them in. This was probably the worst time they could have tried to come in during. Whatever. They all needed to talk anyways.

Which is what made it really inconvenient when an alarm started blaring immediately after the Titans walked into the room. Barry was gratified to see that everyone else in the room was just as startled by it as he was. He was also gratified to see the rest of his team come racing into the room, ready for orders.

He was _not_ gratified to see the Team race into the room, expressions set.

Iris (where had she come from? Who had let her into the building this morning) was the first to react, snarling, "What are you doing here?"

Hal of all people responded, pushing his way through the wall of pint-sized heroes to stand protectively at the front, "Hey, why don't we all take a moment to calm down and then we'll talk, okay?"

"I'm not talking to _any_ of you!" Iris shouted.

Barry zipped over to her, wrapping an arm around her and turning to face Hal, "GL, if you know what's good for you, you're going to leave _now_." He allowed some of his fury, his grief, his rage at the broken world leak into his voice and take the form of lightning sparking around him, "That goes _double_ for the rest of you. And based on the lack of surprise from the Teen Titans, I'm going to have to say that you better leave, too."

"We just want to talk. We won't do anything else," Hal said, hands raised in an attempt to placate Barry. Yeah right. He bristled, ready to do anything it took to fight. At least, he was ready until Hal's next words took the breath right out of him. Hal looked Barry straight in the eyes and said, "Supersonic is alive."

Barry's deflating was a physical thing, limbs curling inward, head bowing under the weight of Hal's words. Iris put a hand to her mouth and _shook_. The room was silent otherwise. And then Iris was straightening, always so, so, _so_ strong and beautiful and brave. She took a step forward, hand still wrapped tightly in Barry's, "You do _not_ get to come in here and say things like that. Get _out_. Do _not_ lie to us anymore. We _trusted_ you and you… you!" She made a wordless cry of frustration, causing a few of the heroes in the room to flinch inward. Good.

Hal frowned, scrubbing a hand up over his hair. He looked like he desperately wanted to remove his Green Lantern get up but there were people in the room who didn't know his identity yet. So, Hal just clenched his jaw and spoke again, "West, Flash. You _know_ me. You know this Team. We did _not_ kill Supersonic. He is _not_ dead. We are almost certain that the Light has him."

Barry felt the color flee from his face at that declaration. Wally… Wally wasn't alive. But – if he was alive? And the Light had him? Barry would be _devastated_. Barry swallowed and shook his head.

Fingers clenching, Hal took a step forward, "Flash, I'm being serious here. I know that's not a super appealing outcome, but at least he's alive. The Team did _not_ kill them. I know you wouldn't believe it, but we have witnesses, alibis. The Teen Titans and Maxwell Lord are all willing to swear that they were with or saw the Team at the headquarters or engaged in the fight in the safe house during the time where they were supposedly killing Supersonic."

"There's something," Ronnie started, voice blazing with rage, "What was up with that fight in the safe house? Got some sort of problem with the New Holo City metas?"

"How, exactly, were they supposed to know that they were from New Holo City?" Hal asked, "New Holo City is supposed to remain as secret as possible. That means that we don't have a clue about who is a part of it. And the camps don't report any missing prisoners, so even after Supersonic rescued all those kids from the camps, all that was reported was that there was an escape. They don't keep any records to even _know_ who escaped. They had no way of knowing that the reason those three metas were out of the camps _wasn't_ because the Light got them out. That's the assumption they were working under. Again, how were they supposed to know anything else?"

Julian sneered, "And that gives you the perfect excuse to attack first, ask questions never, right?"

"You don't have the full story!" Robin burst out from the back.

Hal sent him a warning glance, following it up with a tense smile. Hal turned back to the Alliance, "He's right. You don't have the full story. Aqualad, Supersonic, and Maxwell Lord were working together to put up traps for anyone who was looking for the Teen Titans, the Team, the Circus, Maxwell Lord, or any of the above. They used Circus safehouses, Argus safehouses, Checkmate safehouses, and Lord's personal safehouses to create all of these traps. That trap was triggered after Supersonic was called away to deal with something going on in New Holo City. The Team members who went there and fought those three did so assuming that the three were there looking for information on all of us."

Barry slumped slightly. That… that made sense. Had this really all been one big misunderstanding? Hal spoke again, "We've got concrete proof that Tuppence Terror spoke with Tommy Terror who asked Tuppence to come to New Holo City. We're almost sure that Savage tracked that phone call down to New Holo City where he then took the residents, convinced three of them to run off to a safehouse and fight whoever was there, convinced the rest to call Supersonic, and then threatened them. The Team was probably fighting the three in that house at the time. We believe Supersonic went to a location, was shown the members of New Holo City, and was told they'd go free if he went to the Light. We think that someone or multiple someones with the ability to induce visions or mess with minds showed the people of New Holo City images of the Team killing Supersonic. After that, they sent out two videos and took some of Supersonic's blood and relics from the Team's former battles against the Light. They probably set up a murder scene for the Circus to find once New Holo City went to the Circus about what they 'saw.' We're assuming you got a video of us fighting the three metas in that safehouse. This is the video _we_ got."

He motioned to Robin who allowed a large holographic screen to pop out of his glove. The Alliance watched in silence as the short video of Wally giving himself to the Light played. Barry had to admit that it sounded bad. He winced at the thought, of what the Team must have thought when they saw that.

Hal continued speaking, "We assume that Savage orchestrated the conversation to make sure it sounded as bad as possible when we watched it. That, combined with the fact that no one could reach Supersonic and the fact that both you and Icicle called us and cut us out almost immediately after the video was sent, left us more than a little confused. Aqualad, Blue Beetle, Robin, and Tempest were convinced that Supersonic couldn't have betrayed anyone and they managed to put together a theory that explained where Supersonic went. Then Icicle broke in and told Starfire that the Teen Titans needed to leave because the Team were dangerous since they 'killed' Supersonic. That's when we really realized the depth of manipulation that was going on. We figured we needed to get proof that Savage had managed to get ahold of the location and placement of New Holo City in order to threaten them into the various things they were probably threatened into. Then we found you guys."

Barry stumbled back into a chair, almost dragging Iris with him. Luckily, she seemed just as shell-shocked and weak-kneed as him because she just collapsed into his lap after he managed to get into the chair.

Barry's fingers were shaking, "This can't be real. This can't be happening. I don't know what's going on anymore."

Cautiously, hands raised so the others in the room knew that he wasn't going to do anything, Hal moved forward until he was able to crouch in front of Barry and Iris, "Trust me when I say that I know what it feels like when someone's labeled dead and next thing you know he's alive. People told me that Maser had to be dead, that there was no way that he survived after 'running away' if he hadn't come back by that point. And yet… he was alive. The Circus and the Team coming together brought me my cousin back. Let them do this for Supersonic, yeah? Supersonic is alive and he needs us to come together to save him. That's what matters right now. You can process later. All you need to feel right now is happiness. And, hopefully, a bit of restored trust. Hopefully." Hal gave them a roguish grin in the end, but there was a real element of worry tucked away in his eyes, trying to hide behind his bravado.

Closing his eyes tightly for a moment, Barry blew out a breath and opened them, "Happiness, yes. Worry, definitely. Trust? Not yet. I'm so sorry, but I can't. Not yet. I… I can't keep getting my hopes up only for you guys to dash them. When this is all over, when the Light is defeated, when I can go back to Central without being worried about being put in the camps, then we'll revisit this whole trust thing. I'm sorry."

Hal's grin faltered only for a second before he pasted it back on, thicker and faker than before, "Nah, don't worry about it. I can understand being distrustful too. We're going to do all of those things, you know. You don't have to believe that or trust me or anything. Just, you know. We're going to do it. Together."

Barry nodded to him, "Alright. Okay. That's – yeah. Alright." He took a moment to compose himself before he stood up, rolling his shoulders and looking intently out into the gathered heroes and Alliance members, "Okay, here's what's going to happen. We are going to work together and find Supersonic. We will rescue him and then we will get him to get the Circus back on board."

Aquagirl raised a hand cautiously, "Would it not be more prudent to work with the Circus on this?"

Barry grimaced, "Yeah, it'd probably be better, but I can't see us being able to convince them. We can barely contact them, half the time. The Circus… they aren't doing so well with all of this. I can't see them believing a single thing any of say unless we've got proof that Supersonic is alive. And they're going to need some hard proof to counteract the thousands of witnesses they have."

Barry's hands were still shaking even as the others started discussing plans and possible locations and situations. His hands were still shaking, and he didn't know how to stop them. Why were they shaking? He should be out of his mind with happiness! And yet, he just didn't feel anything.

Distantly, Barry realized this was probably shock. It shouldn't be that surprising. Shock was an expected emotion in situations like this. Intense grief to intense joy all while being under a great deal of stress while not having slept well at all in a while definitely led to the feeling of shock.

Still, that didn't help him at the moment.

It wasn't until Iris wrapped her arms around him from behind, her head leaned against the top of his, her tears felt even through the cowl, that Barry could let go of the feeling of shock, could properly take stock of what was happening.

When he pulled his wife into his lap and the two of them cried silently, no one said a single word. Patrick and Hal pulled the others out of the room and allowed the couple their time to just _feel_.

WWWWWW

He'd done it.

He'd actually done it.

Someone was willing to take a message out.

Wally didn't know who the person was (maybe they told him, and he didn't hear over the sound of his own harsh pants) but he knew that they knew the Alliance.

They (did Wally even know their gender? Could he see past the haze of pain?) were going to tell the Alliance that he was alive and where he was. They were then going to get out of here, stay under the protection of the Alliance and hope that Wally would be rescued in time.

Wally was grateful.

At least, he thought he was.

He was grateful if it actually happened.

There was a lot of things that happened that he wasn't actually sure if they happened or not.

Maybe he imagined it.

Maybe he was never going to be rescued.

Maybe Wally didn't care anymore.

 **Author's Note: There we have it! Things are pulling back together again! Thanks for reading!**


	61. Chapter 61

**Author's Note: Okay, things are steadily coming together. I genuinely believe that this story will be over in a couple chapters. For real this time :P I know I was saying that at, like, 20 chapters, but I really mean it, haha. I mean, we'll never know until I actually get writing because these stories honestly have a life of their own, but yeah. Alright, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Response to Guest Review:**

 **Guest – Aw, you're so sweet! Okay, for Rogue's Status, the first chapter of the sequel will be posted on the same day that the epilogue for this one will be posted. I'm thinking sometime in the next two months? It depends on how long this story wants to drag on, haha. Thanks for the review!**

KKKKKK

Kaldur resisted the urge to give an incredulous laugh. How was it that there were so many moments where the Team got together and threw their everything into research and couldn't find a single thing only for someone to randomly appear with information? How many times had the Team spent _weeks_ looking for something before the question was solved through something that one of the other teams did?

It was beyond frustrating.

That wasn't to say that Kaldur wasn't exceptionally glad for the information. And it wasn't like he was the only one who was surprised. The Alliance was just as surprised as he was that one of their former members (a human who had bowed out in order to make a family, apparently) had taken it upon themselves to go undercover in the Light. That former operative was now back out of the Light and in hiding with their family, but they had taken the time to tell the Alliance where Wally was being held. Kaldur wasn't sure they ever would have found him if this former Alliance member (the Alliance wasn't trusting the Team with this person's identity which hurt more than it should) hadn't shown up.

On the one hand, they had found Wally! On the other hand, Wally had been with the Light for a little over a month at that point. It wasn't ideal, but at least he was alive. At least they had that much good news.

There had been talks of trying to convince the Circus to join at that point – they had a witness that Wally was alive and as healthy as he could be, - but the Alliance had been convinced that it would do more harm than help. They were certain that the Circus still wouldn't believe them.

Kaldur felt himself slump at the thought. Why was it so easy for the Circus to be convinced that the Team had _killed_ Wally? They should _know_ that the Team would never do something like that! At the absolute least, they should know that the Team didn't even kill people! The fact that the Circus killed was one of the main points of contention earlier on in their alliance! How could they believe that the Team would throw away those ideals just to kill Wally? Their friend? It didn't make sense.

It broke Kaldur's heart.

It also worried him. If the Circus could backslide that far that quickly on their trust for the Team, then could they ever really, truly, fully trust the Team? It wasn't hard to convince the Circus that the heroes had done something awful. That indicated a level of distrust already simmering underneath the surface. What were the chances that this distrust would go away after they rescued Wally?

There were many times where Kaldur wondered over the rehabilitation and reintroduction of metahumans into society. There were, of course, many things to be considered. More things that Kaldur would have even thought about according to his conversation with Wally on the subject. But Kaldur wasn't sure if the metahumans who were hurt would ever be able to reintegrate. Maybe that was horribly negative of him. Maybe he should have more faith in the metahumans, but… he found it hard to believe after everything he had witnessed.

There was an entire city of people – over two thousand people by the last count Kaldur had heard – who were so scared of humans that they made themselves a secret city that they would do anything to keep a secret. That was more than heartbreaking.

Kaldur shook his head. This was not what he needed to be thinking about. They needed to defeat the Light and dismantle the laws against metahumans before they even _started_ to think about rehabilitation. Of course, there were several heroes who had thrown themselves into creating plans and organizations to help with the reintegration of metas. He knew that Diana had already started quietly talking to officials in the military and in the government about creating organizations. He wasn't sure what it was that Diana and Wally had talked about in their time during Wally's imprisonment, but it had had a profound effect on Diana.

Either way, his focus should be the raid on the Light facility that they were about to do. They not only wanted to get Wally out of enemy hands as quickly as possible, they also needed to make sure that the Light didn't move Wally after the undercover agent left the organization and went into hiding.

Beyond that, the Alliance had already set up a meeting with the Circus for around the time they were expected to be back with Wally. The Team figured that if Wally truly gave himself to the Light to protect his city, then the Light new where New Holo City was, and they would need to be warned of the threat against them. The Circus needed to know of Wally's survival as soon as possible in order to evacuate New Holo City quickly enough.

Kaldur only hoped that New Holo City would be able to be moved fast. They had no idea how quickly the Light could mobilize against the city and no one wanted those innocents to be hurt.

Sighing, Kaldur put a hand against his forehead. He needed to stop thinking about the what-ifs and the could-have-beens. He needed to focus on the here and the now. They were already on route to the battle. He could not afford to be distracted. Not in something as important as this.

Unfortunately, they had not had much time to come up with a plan. At least, not one that wouldn't lose them advantages – mainly, the advantage of having the Teen Titans remain unknowns. As far as they knew, the Light still believed that the Circus and the Team were grieving over the 'deaths' of the Teen Titans. Showing that they knew that the Teen Titans were alive and that they were working with them was giving away something they couldn't really afford to lose, but it was worth it. It had to be.

Thankfully, though, they had been able to get some Alliance members and Justice League members in on the plan. They really didn't know what sort of battle they were walking into. If the place was on normal alert, then the Team would have been able to handle the extraction by themselves, but the source said that, occasionally, Savage would go down to Wally's cell and gloat and the security would be much higher if that was the case.

Kaldur wasn't sure which option he was hoping for. On the one hand, he just wanted to get Wally out of there with minimal damage done to anyone. On the other hand, if Savage was there? They'd finally have been able t find him. He would be there for them to capture. It would be their best chance of catching him off guard and ensuring his defeat.

Of course, that didn't solve many of their problems, but it was a huge start. Taking out Savage was the most important aspect of dismantling the Light. Savage was also their most reliable and accurate source of information on Darkseid and the threat he posed.

M'gann suddenly announced over the bond, _We have arrived_.

Kaldur glanced around, looking seriously at the task force he was in charge of. Miss Martian, Robin, Red Arrow, Flash, Green Lantern, Blue Beetle, and Tempest were with him, using the bioship to fly invisibly towards the target building. All the other teams (Conner took his team in Sphere, Batman bringing his in the Bat-plane, Superman in the JL jet, and Starfire in the T-plane) would launch a full-frontal assault on the building, taking out and capturing as many Light members as possible while Kaldur's team would complete the main objective of finding and rescuing Wally.

Kaldur responded back to M'gann, _Good. We will wait for the signal to begin_.

He'd barely finished mentally speaking when there was an enormous explosion from the other side of the building. Robin smirked, _I guess we're ready_.

Kaldur huffed out a breath of laughter, _Everyone, in position._ The others spread out behind him, suits as dark as they could go, ready to race into the darkness of the night and infiltrate the building. On Kaldur's nod, M'gann opened the exit hatch of the bioship, allowing everyone out. The moment they were all out, the ship closed its door and went invisible again.

 _Flash, scout ahead and report when you find a clear path into the building_ , Kaldur ordered, watching Flash disappear in a flash of lightning. They hadn't gotten a chance to get more than a basic understanding of the layout before they moved in. Kaldur hated doing mission with so little information, but they had to do what they had to do. Wally didn't deserve to be in this place for any longer than he already had.

They waited carefully in the shadows for the fifteen seconds or so that Flash was gone. Then, he zipped back over to them, _We're clear. No one's guarding this entrance. They've all ran towards the places where the other teams are attacking._ His expression was grim and determined.

 _Then let us proceed as planned,_ Kaldur responded, just as grim and determined. They were going to get Wally out of this place. They _were_.

Of course, that would be easier if things ever, at any point, went to plan.

Somedays, Kaldur privately wondered why heroes even bothered making plans because they very, _very_ rarely went as they were supposed to. It wasn't even horrible anymore. It was just annoying. Kaldur was more used to things going wrong than going right.

The door they chose to enter by had an incredibly loud alarm that went off the second they opened it. They were lucky that the Light already knew that the heroes and metas were there, but the alarm would still be awful for some of the hearing-enhanced members. Superman and Superboy in particular would be finding themselves in a world of hurt with the ear-piercing alarm.

Kaldur slapped hands over his own ears for a moment, hissing out to Robin, _Try to disable that alarm. The rest of us will go ahead on the agreed path. Tempest, please stay and protect him while he does so. Join up with us as soon as you are able._ The two of them sent him serious nods and he nodded back.

Turning, Kaldur started running down the chosen path. It should, theoretically, lead them straight to Wally. Hopefully.

They didn't meet a lot of opposition. Too many people were running towards the enormous fights taking place in other areas of the building. Kaldur hoped that the others were alright, that they would be able to handle the amount of people attacking them. He really, really hoped that.

The opposition they did face was easily taken out. A slash of water bearers here, a bright green construct there, an arrow, a telepathically thrown box. The Light had made the heroes and the Alliance _angry_ and now they were facing the consequences of that.

No one wanted to face angry heroes. It was why the loved ones of heroes were often left alone, even when identities were compromised. Taking out one hero's loved one would bring the rest of the hero community down on their head in _moments_. It was not a fate that many would wish upon themselves.

Kaldur ducked as he came around a corner only to almost run into an enemy. The assailant's arm flew over his head and Kaldur aimed a punch at the exposed midriff in front of him. The man crumpled, eyes rolling back in his head.

Kaldur breathed hard, the adrenalin from the surprise attack racing through his veins. He should be paying closer attention.

That was why, when he came around the next corner, he only barely, _barely_ held himself back from punching the figure on the other side.

The woman hissed, jumping back slightly and pulling a gun out of her holster with one arm. The other was wrapped around an emaciated figure.

For a long moment, the two groups stared blankly at each other.

Flash was the first to respond, zipping forward and gently freeing the small, shaking figure from the female guard. He did it quickly enough that the woman barely had a chance to do more than take an aborted step back.

She was stock-still by the time Flash came to a stop behind the heroes, Wally held securely in his grasp (Kaldur was more than a little worried by the lack of noise from the younger speedster, but he couldn't focus on that at the second). She licked her lips, carefully, slowly holstering the gun, "I… I freed him. I heard the heroes come and I figured I could get him out of here and to you guys before someone else came. I didn't mean to cause any problems. I just… I just want protection. For both of us." She stood tall, expression fierce, but scared. She was obviously in over her head.

Flash was glaring hotly at her, but Green Lantern spoke softly, carefully, "I'm going to have to restrain you if you want us to protect you, okay? And you're going to have to give us information when we get where we're going."

The woman clenched her fists, but eventually nodded, "Okay. But you have to take care of us."

"Us? You mean you and W- uh, the prisoner?" Dick asked. Kaldur tried to hide his jump – he hadn't heard Dick or Garth catch up to them.

Hands carefully presented behind her back, the woman nodded, "Yeah. He… he doesn't deserve to be in this place. I… I can't be a part of this any longer. Not when he's being hurt like this." There were what looked like genuine tears in her eyes. Hal directed his constructs to pull her hands around the front of her to be cuffed in a more comfortable position. The kindness only increased the tears in her eyes. She whispered softly, "I have two kids around his age and… I can't. I just can't."

Flash's gaze was a lot softer when he looked at her that time, "Thank you for that. He's… important to us. Is there anything we need to know about this place while we escape?"

The woman nodded immediately, "Savage is here. He'll have been notified that I opened the cell. He's going to be looking for the prisoner. He's… possessive over him." She swallowed hard at that last comment, eyes flitting down to the floor. Kaldur wondered if she'd had her own personal experience with Savage's… _possessive_ nature.

"Okay, we can deal with that," Flash said, voice wavering just the slightest bit when the form in his arms whimpered. Kaldur resisted the urge to rush over and check on his friend. They needed to get out first.

He reached up to his ear and spoke into the comms, "We have been informed that Savage is here and that he is heading towards our location. Please send backup. My team and I have obtained Supersonic and we are heading towards the exit now. We have one prisoner who is under our protection." He noticed the woman sag in relief next to them.

Superman responded, grunting slightly at a blow before answering, " _Understood. We'll send Superboy's group to your location. He's on his way now. Get to the bioship as quickly as you can. Once I get through this group, my team will head out to the bioship and make sure there aren't any enemies lying in wait out there._ "

"Copy that," Kaldur responded, motioning for the group to follow him as they started running out.

Kaldur turned to Flash, "Could you carry Miss Martian with you alongside Supersonic?" Flash looked at him curiously but nodded. Kaldur breathed out a sigh of relief, "Then carry her and get to the bioship. Start treating Supersonic immediately. Miss Martian will protect you and weaponize the bioship in case it is necessary."

Flash sent him a grateful look, knowing that he was too worried about his nephew to do much harm. Not that he'd do the most harm anyways. As much as his speed was an asset, Barry was not a fighter. Yet. He had apparently been training quite hard to make sure that he could be of more use in situations like these.

M'gann grabbed onto Barry's shoulders and hoisted herself onto his back, arms around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist, lower legs brushing against Wally's back. In a burst of lightning, the two were gone. Only seconds later, Kaldur was receiving confirmation from M'gann that they'd made it to the bioship safely. Flash was already working on treating Wally's injuries. Apparently, there were a lot. Kaldur tried not to let the information affect him.

Breathing in carefully, Kaldur continued running towards the exit. Now, if they were lucky, they'd make it out without anyone noticing and they'd be able to regroup with the others long enough to make a rough plan for trapping and dealing with Savage in the building.

Unfortunately, Kaldur's thoughts jinxed them. It was only seconds (one or two turns away from the exit) later that they turned a corner to see Savage standing there, eyes nearly incandescent with fury.

Hal stepped carefully to the front of the group, hovering slightly above the ground, green light radiating comfortingly out from him, "What's wrong, Savage? Lose something?" There was a smirk on his face, but his movements were very careful, obviously wary of this threat.

Savage snarled, rage stopping him from monologuing. He simply leapt into motion, starting in with a smooth uppercut that Hal had to veer away from quickly, flying up towards the ceiling. Hal threw construct cuffs at the man, trapping him in the glowing green light. Hal was just moving forward to punch the man out (just in case) when Savage _flexed_ and broke through the construct, striking out at Hal immediately.

Hal went flying towards the wall, grunting with the impact. Kaldur was vaguely aware of the female guard being let loose but couldn't do anything about it. She didn't seem willing to do anything about it either, merely moving closer to the wall so she'd be out of the way of the fight.

Kaldur went to help Hal but was cut off as more people poured into the hallway. He growled in frustration. Nothing was easy, was it? At least Wally was safely out of the way. That was something at least.

Kaldur threw himself into the fight, ducking and dodging and weaving. He could feel his own teammates and enemies alike crashing into his back, hindered by the small hallway they found themselves confined to. Robin was the only one who was reacting well to the confines, using the walls as launching points, flipping up and over people, cackling all the while. Perhaps Kaldur should look into doing some training on fighting in small spaces like this. It could be a team activity. They certainly needed the practice.

The fight only grew more convoluted when Superboy's team burst into the area. Kaldur mentally cursed as he lost sight of Savage. He hoped that someone had eyes on him.

When more people came to aid Savage, the fight got truly ridiculous. No one could move too far in any one direction without hitting friend and foe alike.

With a roar of rage, Conner fixed that problem. He angrily bowled into the wall, smashing through it and throwing one of the enemies out through the wall. Kaldur saw that the hole in the wall opened out into the outdoors. Breathing a sigh of relief, he sent out a command to anyone who was linked up, _Herd Savage outside. I do not care about the rest, but we need to ensure that Savage does not escape back into the building. This is our chance to finally take him out_.

Everyone sent him back the mental equivalent of a nod, all tired and frustrated from the small space and the seemingly endless enemies. Superman, seeing the enemies spilling out into the open air, spoke into the comms, " _I've called for backup from the rest of the groups once they get their areas cleared. We should be getting more help soon._ "

No one responded, too caught up in their own battles.

Kaldur stayed in the hallways for as long as he could, trying desperately to lock eyes on Savage. He needed to know if Savage was trying to escape down the hallways. He wasn't going to let the man go this time. He _wasn't_. Not after everything he'd done.

He only felt comfortable going outside when he saw Hal's bright green construct transform into a slingshot that _launched_ Savage out into the open. The man landed in a crouch, snarl on his lips. Savage threw himself at the first person who came within striking distance, knocking Roy flat on his face with a pained wheeze.

Kaldur lost sight of Savage again, too engrossed in fighting his own enemies. He hated not being able to see the man, knew the dangers of not being able to track his movements, but there were an endless number of grunts willing to throw themselves into the battle.

With a start, Kaldur realized that he'd been so focused on trying to find Savage that he'd missed the assailant that was almost on top of him, wicked sharp sword looking plenty strong enough to go through even his thick Atlantean skin. At that point, there was nothing he could do but accept the blow.

Except… the blow didn't happen. Kaldur barely heard the sound of the gun over the noise of battle, but there was suddenly a hole in the enemy's forehead. The man dropped his sword, crumbling to the ground. Breathing hard with the fear and stress of the moment, Kaldur turned his head and saw the female guard standing there, gun held securely in her hands. She gave him a tight nod of acknowledgement before turning her attention back to the others. Kaldur allowed his lips to tip upwards in a small smile.

It was only when they were finally thinning the number grunts that a voice roared over the battlefield, making everyone pause, " _Stop!_ "

Everyone paused, hero and villain alike, to find the source of the yell. Savage was standing in a clear area, breathing hard, sword held tightly to Artemis's neck. The archer looked terrified, one hand scrabbling at the arm around her throat, the other hanging limp and broken at her side.

Savage growled into the silence, "You will let me go and only then will you receive her back."

The heroes shifted, uncomfortable with the moment. They couldn't trust Savage to let Artemis go once he'd escaped. There was no reason for him to let her go.

Savage snarled at the lack of response, his usual cool, collected nature failing him, " _Fine_ , have it _your_ way." He'd barely lifted his sword, seconds away from _killing_ Artemis when a form barreled into him.

Kaldur blinked at the blur that set upon Savage, smashing fists into his face and not giving him a second to stand up, to get control of the situation back. The grunts, with their leader no longer commanding attention, fell back into their individual fights. Kaldur gave a sign of relief when he saw Flash carefully collect Artemis, pulling her into the bioship where her arm could be splinted, and she wouldn't be hurt.

But… wait. If Flash was the one taking care of Artemis, then who was the speedster attacking Savage?

Kaldur's heart leapt into his throat at the thought that Wally was over there, bare faced, wearing a prisoner's garb, injured and emaciated, fighting Savage.

With a renewed desperation, the Atlantean fought his way quickly but surely over towards where Wally was still grappling with Savage. Kaldur barely managed to snag the back of Wally's shirt and drag him away from Savage before the latter stabbed Wally through the stomach.

Wally panted on the ground, shaking hard enough to blur around the edges. Kaldur couldn't do more than give him a concerned glance before he started to attack Savage. He was going to take this man out if it was the last thing he did.

His water bearers met Savage's swords now that Savage was fighting an opponent slow enough for the immortal to pull himself back together. The two of them traded blows – left, right, right, under, above, above, left, left, left, right, under, left, above, right.

Finally, they locked swords, each pushing with all their strength, arms straining against the force of the other. Kaldur bared his teeth at the immortal, determined to not give a single inch. Savage snarled back.

Then, in the space of a nanosecond, that snarl was wiped away, slackening into a drifting frown when Wally leapt into the fight, smashing a fist against Savage's face hard enough to finally, _finally_ knock the man out.

Wally shook in the silence of the clearing, the other battles tapering off quickly as Savage fell.

Carefully, Kaldur approached Wally, wincing at the bloody, misshapen state of the speedster's knuckles. Kaldur stepped in front of Wally, making sure to meet his eyes before gently placing a hand on his shoulder, moving slowly, "Are you alright, my friend?"

Wally stared at him; the rest of the heroes silent around them. Then, abruptly, Wally grinned at him, "I've always wanted to punch him."

Against his will, Kaldur let out a laugh. He carefully pulled Wally into a loose hug, feeling more relieved than he could possibly express at the idea that Wally was safe and back with them again. Wally slowly moved to put his arms around Kaldur's back, the skin cold and rough with injuries. Then, suddenly, Wally slumped in his grip, becoming dead weight.

Kaldur pulled back quickly, more than alarmed at the feeling. Desperately, he searched for a pulse, breathing out a powerful breath when he realized that Wally had merely fallen unconscious.

Superman looked at the gathered group, "The Justice League will take Savage into custody and ensure that he is properly detained. He will _not_ be getting away from us. Any Alliance members should make their way to the Circus meeting point. Aqualad's team? Do the same. Treat Supersonic on the way to the meeting. We can get him more treatment once we're sure that New Holo City will be safe. Everyone else will deal with cleanup. Alright, let's go."

Kaldur nodded to him, ushering his people onto the bioship with him. He only really let out a breath of relief when they were all there, the door shut behind them and the bioship up in the air.

Gently, he settled Wally on the sickbed, carefully laying him down, trying not to aggravate the numerous injuries littering his body. Barry zoomed up next to them, cowl off in a second, leaning down over Wally. Dick hissed out towards him, "Secret identity, Flash!" Then he pointedly looked at a wide-eyed Blue Beetle.

Barry grimaced, "Hi, Blue Beetle. I'm Barry Allen. Now, Robin, can I go treat Supersonic?" Dick winced a little bit at the harsh tone. Barry flinched back a little too, "Sorry, kid. I'm just – stressed. It… it doesn't feel good to see him like this."

Dick swallowed and nodded, fake smile plastered across his face, "It's okay, Barry. We're all stressed. And although I doubt it matters much at this point, do we have a mask for Supersonic because, you know, secret identity."

Blue Beetle blurted out, "I already know his secret ID."

The group turned to him, more than a little startled. Roy choked out, "What?"

Blinking a little and curling back into himself, Blue Beetle mumbled, "I, um, already know his secret ID? We told each other our identities earlier on. Before… before all of this stuff happened."

"What's his identity? We all already know it. I wanted to make sure that you actually do," Artemis demanded, eyes sharp and narrowed.

Hal raised a hand slightly, "I'm not so sure that Tempest knows it."

"I know it," Garth admitted, "Once he realized how close Aqualad and I were, he told me his identity. So, there would be no more secrets between Aqualad and I."

Artemis turned her glare back onto Blue Beetle, "Well?"

Blue Beetle flinched back a little from her glare and squeaked out, "Wally West."

Kaldur sat back in his own chair, letting out a quiet, "Huh."

Dick blinked at Blue Beetle before giving him a soft, open smile, "You must really be something. It took most of us _months_ to get his name. Aqualad was the first, but it still took him forever. Good on you, kid."

Blue Beetle glanced at Wally skeptically before turning his skeptical gaze onto Dick, "I'm pretty sure I'm older than you."

"But you don't know for sure," Dick sing-songed, trying to take the edge of stress out of the group.

Barry murmured to himself, gathering the attention of the rest of the group. Wally was still unconscious on the table, limbs sprawled everywhere. He was bleeding sluggishly from a number of wounds. Kaldur swallowed tightly when he saw the tight shock-collar against Wally's throat, red abrasions and burns peaking out from under the edge. His wrists and ankles were rubbed just as raw where cuffs had obviously previously been. His fingernails were torn to shreds, the tips of his fingers raw and blistered from too many attempts at clawing his way out of something. The insides of his elbows were a puffy red, peppered with obvious needle marks. There were scars criss-crossing his chest and back through the shirt, but Kaldur couldn't tell if those came from before this capture or after. He'd never seen Wally without a shirt on, had never guessed at the sheer mass of scars he had.

Roy croaked out, "Is there a way to get that collar off of him?"

"I can get it off," Dick announced confidently, moving closer to Wally's head and carefully extracting his tools from his pouch, "I need someone to hold his head, though. I don't want him moving around if he suddenly wakes up." Barry nodded, gently placing his hands on either side of Wally's head, staring down at Wally with such tenderness that Kaldur felt like he had to look away.

How devastated must the Circus and the Alliance have been to find out that Wally was 'dead?' Kaldur could clearly remember the misery and anger that had overtaken him when he'd believed Garth to be dead. Did they feel that sharp, broken pain?

It must have been worse for them. They believed he was dead for so long. They believed that their _friends_ had been the ones to end him. Kaldur was beyond impressed that their only reaction had been to cut ties with the Team. In the day or so that Kaldur believed the Teen Titans to be dead, he'd snapped at and _hurt_ Wally.

Wally woke with a breathless jerk and a high, tired keen a few moments later.

Barry hissed as Wally's jerk almost caused him to lose his grip. After he made sure that Wally's head wasn't going to move, Barry started quietly talking Wally down, "Hey, hey, it's okay. You're okay. We rescued you, buddy. You're going to be fine, alright? We've got you. It's okay."

Wally's fingers twitched futilely against the table. He squeezed his eyes shut and started muttering to himself, "It's not real. It's not real. It's not real."

Kaldur exchanged worried glances with Barry as Dick increased his lock-picking speed. Kaldur leaned forward, "What's not real, Wally?"

Wally flinched at his voice, eyes still squeezed shut, "It's not real. It's not real."

Hesitantly, the others inched closer. M'gann gasped when she got close enough, hand put to her mouth in horror, "Oh, Wally. It _is_ real. We really rescued you. This isn't like the other times. The reason you can't move your head is because Robin is trying to get the collar off and we didn't want you to get hurt. That's all. You're out of that place."

Hal lightly ran a hand through Wally's hair, glancing up at M'gann, "I don't understand. How can he not believe that what happened is real?"

M'gann frowned, eyes sad as she looked at Wally's trembling form, "They gave him hallucinogens while he was being – while they had him out of the cell. At first, he just burned through them, but as he got weaker and they, um, starved him more, the hallucinogens had more and more of an effect, starting with just making him sick and then… then he started actually seeing things. He wasn't even sure if the person who gave us the message was real or not. He didn't know if he was ever going to be rescued."

Wally peaked one eye open to look at M'gann, "You know an awful lot for someone who's not a hallucination."

She smiled gently at him, "That's because you're projecting so loudly right now. I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry."

Wally slowly opened his other eye, staring at her intently. After a moment, he demanded, "Make a mind link with me. None of my hallucinations could do that. It didn't feel right. Make a link with me."

M'gann blinked, "Oh! Yes, of course! Whatever you need!" She closed her eyes for a second before beaming down on Wally, "Does that feel right?" He stared at her with wide, awed eyes before nodding. She giggled, ducking her head before asking, "Can I let go, now?" He nodded again.

Wally glanced around the rest of the ship, taking in the people around him, He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the collar came off with a loud beep and a click. Wally jumped glancing down like he'd be able to see the thing before leaning back and allowing it to fall off around him. He swallowed convulsively, doing it over and over again, probably just reveling over the fact that he _could_.

After a second of glancing around the ship with wide eyes, Wally carefully tried to sit up. Barry squeaked oddly, hands fluttering around Wally's sides, "Don't! Don't try to sit up. You're injured!"

Wally turned over to look at Barry. He blinked before announcing, "You're real." Barry gave him a half smile, too worried and stressed to do more. Wally didn't seem to mind, instead just beaming and announcing again, "You're _real_." Then, he surprised all of them by abruptly sitting up and throwing his arms around Barry.

For a moment, Barry just sat there, eyes wide and shocked as he tried to process what was happening. Once he realized that this was real, he threw his own arms around Wally, trying to hug him as tightly as possible without hurting him further. The two just held each other, wrapped in their own, family moment.

But, unfortunately, Kaldur had to interrupt them as they got closer to the meeting point. He politely cleared his throat before gently saying, "Wally? I have some clothes that might be more comfortable that what you are wearing. There is also a private room with a wash basin where you can get changed."

Wally blinked at him, "…Where are we going?"

Artemis grimaced, partially from the pain of her arm (it was already treated, and she'd gotten some pain pills, but it was still a broken bone) and partially from Wally's question, "The, uh, Circus believes that we… um…" She trailed off.

Sighing, Wally grimaced, grabbing the handful of clothes from Kaldur and slowly standing up off the bed, "They believe that you killed me. Just like you got something that was supposed to convince you that I was a traitor." He started walking towards the small room to change.

"How did you know about that?" Roy asked, obviously shocked.

Wally glanced back at them, "I made friends at that place. Some of them were nice enough to give me some information." Partway through his explanation, he stepped into the private room and started talking through the door.

Dick raised an eyebrow, impressed, "Good on you, Wally."

"Well, I obviously wasn't going to get out on my own. Savage was a lot more careful about how he treated me after I escaped last time. So, I thought about what anyone else would do and I figured that most of them would follow the same ideas that I was doing. But then I thought about Aqualad and I figured he'd try to negotiate his way out of the situation. Negotiating was what got me _into_ the mess, but I figured that alliances and friendships were kind of like negotiating, so I did that," Wally explained.

Kaldur felt oddly touched that Wally had tried to emulate him while in the prison. Did he look up to Kaldur like that? Kaldur ducked his head to make sure that no one else saw his little smile.

"Ah, that explains why that woman was willing to go against Savage for a prisoner," Garth mused.

Wally came out of the room, already looking better with the grime and blood washed off of him, dressed in a soft pair of sweatpants and a soft, too-big shirt, "Did Etta make it out alright?"

Barry sighed, "Of course you're on a first name basis with her. Yes, she made it out. She's being arrested by the others right now. Along with everyone else in the base and Savage."

Wally jerked to a stop, "Savage?"

"Yeah," Roy said, tucking Wally under one arm and propelling him back towards the table, where he could rest while they talked, "We got Savage. You punched him out, remember?"

Wally squinted, "That was real, too?"

"Yeah, kid," Roy said, a small huff of laughter coming out.

Sighing, Wally eased back against the bed, nodding his thanks when M'gann lifted the back end up for him to sit up in it, "So, sorry. I derailed you guys. Where are we going? Where are the Circus members?"

"We did not think that the Circus would believe that you were alive if we tried to tell them, so we decided to rescue you before trying to bring the Circus back into the alliance. For now, we need to inform the Circus of your survival and we need to tell them that there might be a threat on New Holo City from Savage," Kaldur answered.

Wally jerked up again, surprisingly all of them, "New Holo City! I need to get to them. You guys won't be fast enough. I need to go."

"Absolutely not!" Barry said, wrapping an arm around Wally and holding him tight, "Absolutely _not_. You are going to sit here and go along with the plan. Savage is in a holding cell and no one else got out of that place. No one is there to _send_ a message to go after the city. No one will notice the problem and think to go after the city for a while. Besides, we're almost to the meeting point with the Circus. It's going to be fine. Your people won't be hurt."

Fists clenched against his legs, Wally hissed, "I've already failed them. I'm not going to do it again!"

"No," Barry agreed patiently, "You're not. You are, however, going to need to trust us to help you. Even if you made it there, you're too injured to do much. Trust us, we have this handled."

For a long moment, Wally stared at up him suspiciously. Finally, he slumped back in the bed, sighing, "Fine. Whatever."

Barry smirked, "Is this your moody teenager phase?"

"Pretty sure that was back when he met us. He had emo written all over him," Roy snickered. Wally glared at them. Dick broke into cackles in the background.

The moment was broken when M'gann announced, "We're here."

She gestured to the window of the bioship. From there, they could see that the Circus was gathered in a loose semi-circle, eyes narrowed at the few members of the Alliance who had already made it to the meeting. M'gann slowly set the ship down, letting it fade out of camouflage and become visible. It was heart-breaking to see the way the Circus members flinched back from the sight of the bioship, immediately grasping weapons.

Kaldur nodded for Barry and Wally to enter first. Wally muttered, "I _literally_ just laid down. Could have warned me," but otherwise didn't protest.

Kaldur came out immediately after them. He watched as the Circus members stared at Wally in disbelief, weapons actually falling from some of their grasps. Cameron's mouth hung open. Jinx's hands shook. It was Dinah who eventually gasped out, " _Wally_."

Wally leaned a little bit on Barry, raising a hand in greeting, "Hey, guys."

Cameron laughed a tad hysterically, rushing forward to grab Wally out of Barry's arms, pulling him carefully but quickly back into the semi-circle of Circus members, "You _cannot_ disappear for a month and then just say 'hey, guys!'"

Leaning against Cameron, Wally snaked out a hand to grip Jinx's, sending her a soft smile. He then turned back to the group as a whole and commented tiredly, "Well, I'm a little tired. Big escape. Fighting. Running. All that stuff. I punched someone. I think I have an excuse."

"Escape?" Harold asked, sending a tentative look towards the hopeful Hal, "Where were you escaping from?"

Eyes serious, Wally frowned, "The Light."

Half the Circus reeled back, eyes widening in shock. Garfield gripped onto Wally's free hand, "What do you mean? I don't understand what's happening. You're dead! All of New Holo City saw you die!"

Huffing out a breath, Wally tugged the people around him down until he was sitting cross-legged on the ground, "Yeah, no. That was an illusion. Savage was trying to tear the alliance apart. He sent the Team a pretty bad video of me, making it look like I was a traitor. He tricked all of you."

"How?" Jinx croaked. The rest of the people standing in the clearing sat on the ground, realizing that no one was going to be standing back up anytime soon.

Wally shrugged, "The guard didn't really know. All the knew was that it happened. It was an illusion of some sort. They planted that stuff. When I first got to the place I was supposed to go, they took a _lot_ of blood from me. I'm assuming they used that somewhere because they weren't using it for any of their tests."

"When you first got _where_? What exactly happened, here?" Kelvin asked, settled behind them like a huge, hulking mountain.

Wally sighed, explaining the entire situation from the moment he, Max, and Kaldur started setting up the traps in the safehouses all the way to his appearance in this clearing. Harold quickly sent out a message to New Holo City, giving them instructions to teleport to Alliance headquarters across the world. They hated to displace them again, but it was to keep them safe.

Cameron buried his head in his hands, "We were so _stupid_. Why didn't we see past this? Why didn't we… why… Argh!"

Tentatively, Artemis spoke up, weary of being the first non-Circus member to speak, "It wasn't your fault, Icicle. You had a lot of evidence pointing towards a certain thing. It would be hard to _not_ believe it."

Cameron looked up at her with tortured eyes. He reached out for her, but stopped the movement halfway, flinching back into himself. Artemis's eyes softened and she stood up, leaning on M'gann's shoulder to make sure she could stand up with only one working arm. She made her way over to the pile of Circus members, plopping herself down next to Cameron and grabbing his hand in hers. She smiled at him, "It's okay."

He buried his face in her hair, words muffled, "I didn't believe in you. I'm an _idiot_."

"Never," Artemis whispered into his collarbone.

"So," Lorraine commented after a second, voice settling into something pained and horrified, "You were with the Light this entire time?"

The group flinched back again at the thought. Wally grimaced, "Yeah. It, uh, wasn't the greatest. I'm not exactly doing well, but you know. That's how that goes. But! Savage is captured. We are back together. Everything is going great."

Blue Beetle winced a little bit at the comment, causing Kaldur to sigh. Darkseid. Right. He'd managed to, somehow, momentarily forget about that.

Wally caught the wince, glaring up at Blue Beetle, "Blue? What was that? What aren't you telling me?"

Kaldur stepped in before Blue Beetle could get too flustered, "We meant to tell you as soon as New Holo City was safe. There is, ah, another threat we need to face. The Light was created in response to a particular threat, one that is coming to Earth soon. We hope to get more particulars on this through an interrogation of Savage."

"What sort of threat?" Dinah asked warily.

Kaldur's lips thinned into a frown, "He's called Darkseid."

 **Author's Note: There you go! More detailed reaction of the Circus getting Wally back next chapter. It's just that this chapter was getting a little out of hand, so I had to cut it off, haha. Thanks for reading!**


	62. Chapter 62

**Author's Note: Okay, we're really, truly, fully reaching the end of it. Like, for real this time. I predict less than five chapters less. Hopefully. I'm pretty sure, haha. My current guess is three chapters? But that depends on how much I can reasonably fit into the chapters. I don't know. We'll see, haha. Alright, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest-tron 2000 – You're so sweet! That literally made my day, I can't even explain how much, haha. I'm glad you liked the reunion! I was really worried that I made it too short, so it's good to hear that you liked it. Thanks for the lovely review!**

 **Guest – I'll definitely think about your idea for the Rogue's Status sequel! Thank you so much for the wonderful review and the suggestion!**

 **Guest – Thank you for the review!**

 **Guest – Expect an update every week sometime during the weekend! Most likely on Saturday, but it could be Friday or Sunday, too. Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Two full days after being rescued, Wally still had to take long moments to convince himself that what he was seeing was real. That he'd been rescued. That he was out of there. He didn't think it would have been so bad if it weren't for those _stupid_ hallucinogens. They messed with his mind something awful. Every time he woke up (in the prison and not), he would have to squint at the ceiling for a long moment to try to figure out which ceiling was actually above him.

Wally ran a shaky hand over his face. He'd just finished the conversation with the New Holo City members and was more than emotionally exhausted after that. The main emotion that was expressed by them was an overwhelming wave of guilt that Wally really didn't know how to assuage. It _wasn't_ their fault, no matter what they said. Chase and Tommy were especially torn up about it, certain that it was their call to Tuppence Terror that had caused all the problems.

Wally hadn't been able to stop the creeping guilt in himself when they said that. It certainly wasn't _their_ actions that had caused all the problems. It was Wally's decision to go after the Light, to get in with the Team. Those were the decisions that led to all of their problems.

And it was those decisions that led to the second most prominent emotion in the meeting: frustration. A lot of the members of New Holo City were fed up with moving around and fighting and getting pulled into the Circus's problems. Sure, they had realized that they could never really be safe and that their home was liable to be discovered at any point, but that wasn't the same as everything that was happening. Holo City and now New Holo City had been specifically _targeted_ because Wally had tried to work with the big leagues against the big bad leagues. They'd fought against the Light on New Years and they'd relocated from Holo City to the Alliance headquarters to New Holo City back to the Alliance headquarters. Wally couldn't even guarantee that they'd have homes to come back to. He hoped that the Light was at least minutely kind enough to leave the empty city alone, but he'd have to wait and find out.

The people of New Holo City were just tired and scared and frustrated about not having a home. Holo City had lasted two years. New Holo City had lasted a month or two. Those weren't impressive figures.

(In the back of his mind, Wally reeled over the idea that it had been over two years since he'd escaped from the camps. He must be sixteen now, huh. When did that happen? He hadn't even realized it when it happened. They didn't have a strong enough grasp of the date back in the camps to celebrate anyone's birthday, not that there was anything to really celebrate it with. Maybe next year, Wally could have a proper birthday party. The first in eight years. How many months did he have until his birthday? Eight? Nine?

It didn't feel real. It felt like just yesterday that Wally escaped from the camps. Somedays, when his mood plummeted and his stress levels got too high and he had gotten too many reports of violence against metas, Wally felt like he'd never escaped at all. He felt like all of this was one big, new, elaborate way to torture Wally – see if his mind breaks by giving him this false world and take it all away. After his time with the Light, Wally sometimes couldn't help but feel like maybe his mind did break in the camps and all of this was one big hallucination. He didn't tell anyone that.)

The members of New Holo City were very careful to make sure that Wally knew that they weren't blaming him, but honestly? Who else could they blame? It was his decisions that were making it so hard for them to live normally. The burden of their frustrations sat heavily on his shoulders, almost as heavily as the month of torture, almost as heavily as the knowledge of Darkseid.

Who Savage still wouldn't tell them about. Wally had no idea what Savage thought he was gaining from not telling them. He'd already been captured. He wasn't going to be let go. Where was the harm in letting them prepare for Darkseid's arrival? Savage's plans had fallen apart. His way wasn't going to work anymore. He should just give up and tell the heroes. At the very least, they'd be able to do _something_ about Darkseid. Wally understood not trusting heroes, but this was a new level of obstinate.

Wally sighed viciously, scrubbing a hand across his forehead in aggravation. Why was this all happening? Savage was supposed to be the end of it, the final big battle, the destruction of the Light! Of course, Wally knew that they would have to dismantle the groups that Savage undoubtedly had squirreled away all across the world, but still. That was a much better alternative to an enormous battle against an intergalactic supervillain who conquers worlds in his free time.

Truthfully, Wally wasn't even certain if they had even the slightest bit of a chance against this guy. Planets made of warriors who'd been warned of Darkseid's incoming attack had still fallen to his will in a day. Did Earth even have a chance? Sure, Hal was spouting all that stuff about teamwork making the dream work and all that. But… how much teamwork was there really going on?

Most of the Team had been willing to believe that Wally had betrayed them for the Light. The Alliance had easily believed the Team would willingly go after Wally's people with zero remorse. The Circus had quickly, fully believed that the Team had _killed_ Wally.

What did that say about their teamwork?

A hand on Wally's shoulder sent him skittering almost clear to the other side of the room. Luckily, his brain was a lot faster on the uptake than his body apparently was because Wally realized that it was just Cameron only milliseconds after he started to lunge away.

He pulled to a stop, wincing a little bit at the exertion against his still healing body. Hopefully, he'd be completely healed soon. They had him on a constant IV drip (Wally was okay with it. He was. Honest. It didn't remind him of the needles they never stopped pushing into veins, bringing pain and misery and confusion and utter, horrible awareness) to replace the nutrients he lost after a month of being starved which meant that his healing was going a lot faster than it would have been if he'd been trying to heal just off of regular meals.

Huffing out a tired breath, Wally moved a couple steps to the side, flopping out onto the bed as carefully as he could. Cameron laid down next to him, sprawled across the opposite side. Their heads were laid next to each other and they turned slightly to face each other comfortably.

Cameron gave him a brilliant smile, "I still feel like I'm going to come into this room and there isn't going to be anyone here. I still feel like you're gone, like this is one amazing dream."

Wally snorted, "You don't have to tell me, man."

Cameron looked at him seriously, "You're not allowed to die again." He'd told Wally this several times since the latter had been rescued. He looked painfully serious every time. Wally had been mainly out of it the other times Cameron had given him this ultimatum. He wasn't this time.

"On one condition: you have to accept everything I'm going to say next as the truth," Wally said, just as serious. Cameron narrowed his eyes but still nodded. Sending him a tiny smile, Wally continued, "First, you are not going to die either. I refuse. Second, you did a _fantastic_ job leading this team. I got some info from the rest and they all agree. I won't die again, so I won't _have_ to hand you full responsibility of the team and the city again, but you would be great at it if I had to. Third, we need to move back into the Team headquarters. Even if they don't get information about Savage, we should train together to increase our chances against Darkseid. Fourth… I… I really, really, _really_ missed you, man."

"We're coming back to the third one," Cameron warned him, "But for now… I missed you too. More than you can know. I thought it was bad when you were in that mind trap. I _really_ thought it was bad when the Team had taken you prisoner. I had been naïve. There's nothing as bad as you dying. _Nothing_. I know we've talked semi-seriously about the probably problematic dependency we have on each other and how to reduce that and what the effects would be once metas are finally freed, but… Wally, you're my best friend and my brother and my guidepost. I wouldn't have survived the camps without you. That's a guarantee. A complete, utter guarantee. I wouldn't have _wanted_ to survive the camp without you. And I fully, completely believe that we still would have become the best of friends even if everything with metas didn't happen. I'm not sure I would have lasted much longer with you dead. Again, I'm not sure if I would have _wanted_ to."

"Cam…" Wally said, eyes wide.

Cameron gave him a self-deprecating smile, "I know that's melodramatic or whatever. I know it's ridiculous and I shouldn't be so dependent. I know that it's a problem or whatever. I also know that it's becoming a little healthier now that we're interacting with more, uh, mentally well-adjusted people on a regular basis and we're forming stronger relationships with others like our romantic relationships, but. I just wanted to let you know."

Wally bit his lip, trying to find a way to articulate the rising feeling in his chest (did he tell Cameron that he was elated that Cameron felt their bond as strongly as Wally did? Did he tell Cameron that he was guilty because he didn't deserve that level of love? Did he tell Cameron that he was scared because that was a lot of responsibility? Did he tell Cameron that he was immeasurably proud of the both of them for getting this far?). He finally settled on, "Yeah, our – bond, I guess. Our bond wasn't created in the, uh, _gentlest_ of ways. It definitely wasn't created in the healthiest way. But I don't think that means anything about the validity of it. You're right. No matter what life we would have had, we definitely would have been friends. For lack of a better way to say it – because you took all the good lines, you jerk, - you save me every day, Cam. I know that's cliché, but… you keep me sane."

They shared a soft, real smile, one of the biggest Wally had permitted himself to give for a long, long time. He felt a part of himself slotting into place.

Then he let his lips twist into something a little more mischievous, "Wait, did you call the heroes 'mentally well-adjusted people?' Is that who you meant when you said that we're interacting more with mentally well-adjusted people?"

Cameron rolled his eyes, "Compared to us? Yes, definitely. I will call them that every moment of the day. Did you know that they have their own little team therapist? There's this chick called Dr. Olsen who apparently gives them therapy whenever something the Justice League deems 'extra traumatizing' happens. That automatically makes them more mentally well-adjusted than us."

Wally gave him a dubious look, "If you say so."

"I do," Cameron responded snootily.

The two of them fell into a soft silence, just basking in the fact that they were alive and not separated. Wally broke the silence with a reluctant sigh, "I guess we should talk about my proposal to move back in with the Team."

"Or we could not," Cameron said tensely.

Wally eyed him, "I can't tell how much of your aversion comes from guilt and how much comes from fear."

Cameron sighed, apparently resigning himself to the conversation, "Most of it is from guilt, if I'm being honest. I just – don't get how I doubted them so much, you know? There was literally zero reason for them to kill you. They don't even kill! I didn't believe in them. I didn't even believe in my own _girlfriend_. Or, ex? I don't really know where we stand now. And, like, I get that we haven't been together long, but we've been through some stuff together and I really, really like her. I should have trusted her. I should have let them _explain_. This whole mess could have been solved with simple _communication_ and the tiniest sprinkling of trust, you know? Because of how distrustful I am, the Alliance didn't even think we should help rescue you. They thought we were more likely to hurt the operation than help it. How do you think that makes me feel?"

Passing a tired hand over his face, Wally grimaced, "It's not like we don't have reason to be distrustful."

"To a _point_ ," Cameron stressed, "Our past isn't some excuse to cut everyone else off and never trust again. Being in a relationship – platonic or romantic – means opening up and allowing trust. I told the Team members that I was their friend or their boyfriend or whatever and then I didn't deliver. At all. That had to have hurt them. Which, speaking of, my actions made it so you were hurt as well."

"Nuh uh," Wally immediately protested, "You don't get to say that. The Justice League, the Team, the Teen Titans, and, eventually, the Alliance all working together couldn't find me. It was only due to the fact that one of the people at the prison was an undercover former Alliance member that I got out. You working with the Team wouldn't have gotten that person to find me and pass on the information any faster. I would have been hurt no matter what. Take that right out of your mind."

Cameron laughed a little bit, "Okay, okay! Jeez, calm down. So, _that_ part wasn't my fault."

"Savage manipulated all of us," Wally said softly.

Cameron grimaced, "Yeah, I know that. Of course, I know that. I'm saying that I have a base character flaw that made it so Savage _could_ manipulate me. If I wasn't so – so _screwed up_ , then he wouldn't have been able to pull that. If I had figured out how to trust, we wouldn't have all split up. I just… I _hate_ that I'm like this. I hate that it caused this."

Wally wrinkled his nose, "You're working on it, which has to say something." Cameron immediately started to protest, so Wally put up a hand to stop him, "No, Cam, listen to me. Please keep in mind that I am definitely not blaming anyone but Savage for this mess. But, when you found the evidence showing that I was dead, when you presented it to the rest of the Circus, did a _single_ one of them say that maybe you should give the Team the benefit of the doubt?"

"No," Cameron said before immediately following up with, "But I gave didn't tell them that you were dead, and it was _suspected_ that the Team did it. I told them that the Team killed you."

Wally shook his head, "That doesn't matter. You know our team. If they really had a different opinion, they would have said something." He paused for a moment to let that sink in. He sighed again before finishing, "It's not any of your guys' faults. It's just the way things are. Yes, we need to work on it. Yes, it could potentially cause problems in the future. But that's not what's important. What's important is that we aren't alone with this problem. It has a cause and it has a solution. A solution that's probably further away than we want it to be, but it can be solved. We _can_ get better. We already have. You said it yourself. We're starting to reach out and communicate and forge bonds with others. It's okay to have backslides. That's natural. We just need to keep pushing on. If we let one backslide stop us, then there's no helping us. We need to move forward."

Cameron laughed wetly, scrubbing a little bit at his eyes, "I missed your dumb inspirational speeches."

Wally laughed as well, trying to ignore the tears pushing at his own eyes, "Yeah, well, I missed giving them."

It was Cameron who broke the soft silence that fell over them that time, "Are we really going back?"

"I mean, I do technically have to check with the rest of the team. And with the Team," Wally said, sharing an eyeroll over the Team's name, "But yeah, we're going back. Defeat Darkseid and then wipe out all the remaining traces of the Light. That should involve dismantling the camp system and the prejudice against us."

Cameron let his head fall back against the bed, his wrist lying delicately over his closed eyes, "Why does it feel like every time we complete a goal, a new one is added?"

"Ha, right?" Wally said, firmly ignoring the tired feeling that welled inside him at the thought.

"Are we ever really going to be free?" Cameron asked suddenly, unconsciously mirroring Wally's earlier thoughts.

Sighing, Wally answered honestly, "I don't know. I mean, okay, yes. I believe with all my heart that metahumans will be free at some point. I even believe that they'll be freed from the camps and all that stuff very soon. As for full freedom? Full acceptance into society? The ability to just be another person? I think it'll happen, but I'm not sure when. As to if _we_ , specifically, are ever going to be free? I _really_ don't know about that. I think about it a lot. I know the Team and, to some extent, the Justice League would argue for us, but the fact of the matter is that we're officially terrorists. And that's not even counting only the laws against metas that we broke. We've broken legit laws, too. If we don't end up in jail at the end of all this, then I'll be surprised."

Snorting, Cameron asked, "Where are the inspirational speeches from a moment ago?"

"Ah," Wally said, a smile tugging at his lips, "I'm tired. That means you only get one per day. You have used up your allotted inspirational speeches for the day. Please come back again tomorrow."

Cameron snorted again, "Yeah, okay. Fair enough." He paused before admitting, voice small, "I don't want to go to jail. You can't tell me that we wouldn't end up somewhere like Belle Reeve. Imagine me ending up getting the cell next to my father or something like that."

Wally winced, "What would they even do with me? Inhibitor collars don't work on me anymore. If they have to keep their prison to humane standards or whatever – and I think they do because the heroes regularly visit when dropping off prisoners, - then they can't do anything that'll keep my speed down. I could get out so fast."

"Take me with you," Cameron responded immediately, startling a small laugh out of Wally. Cameron shared a quick grin with him before shrugging, "I don't know. I don't think we'll end up in prison. At the very least, we're good enough at hiding by now that we can just go back under if they put an arrest warrant. Or, well. If they keep their current arrest warrants active." He sent Wally a wry grin at his last statement.

Wally shrugged back, letting the conversation lie for now. There was really no way for them to know what was going to happen in that regard. Sighing and rolling his neck to crack it, Wally sat up on the bed, looking over his should back at Cameron, "Well, let's get going on the move. I'll call Kaldur and see if we're still good. You gather the others while I'm at that. The conversation shouldn't take long and even if he says no, we could still use a good group conversation."

Cameron sighed back, "It's probably for the better. Just make sure that you bring your IV stand with you."

Wally rolled his eyes as aggressively as he could, "Yes, _mother_. How you convince anyone that you're _not_ a mother hen is beyond me." Cameron grinned at him, sharp and bright. Wally rolled his eyes again.

He waited until Cameron was out of the room before he initiated the call, linking his comm directly to Kaldur's – a channel just for leaders as it was. He spoke carefully into it, "You there, Kaldur?"

It took a second, but eventually Kaldur responded, " _Yes, Supersonic. I am here_."

Apparently, Kaldur was with other people. He only ever called Wally by his codename when others were around. It was nice. Wally quickly tuned himself back into his own conversation, "Awesome. So, uh, there really isn't a delicate way to ask this, but I do want to make sure. Are you and the rest of the Team alright with the Circus moving back into the Louisiana headquarters we had been sharing before?"

He must have taken Kaldur by surprise because the Atlantean sucked in a sharp breath and spoke without even pausing to think about his response, " _Is the Circus alright with moving back?_ " Wally didn't even get a chance to answer before Kaldur apologized, " _I am sorry, that was rude. I did not mean to insinuate anything. I was merely… Ah, there is not a way for me to recover from that._ " Wally could imagine the rare blush ever so slightly dusting Kaldur's cheeks.

Rolling his eyes, Wally huffed out a small laugh, "You're fine, Kaldur. Really. I know what you meant. We're… working on trust issues. That's nothing to do with you and nothing to do with the alliance. Well, I guess it has something to do with you guys. I really think you guys are helping us. But, anyways, that's not the point. I haven't asked the Circus yet. I wanted to make sure it was alright with you before I sprung the question on them. I'm positive they'll say yes, though. I think they're lonely with only us in our HQ. We got used to hanging out at the place in Louisiana where there are a ton of us."

" _I am glad to hear that. Yes, this headquarters is always open to you. You may return as soon as you wish to,_ " Kaldur answered kindly, just as formally as always. It made Wally's lips twitch up again. There was a pause where Wally was about to sign-off, but then Kaldur said hesitantly, " _When we were on the bioship leaving from the prison, you said something that I was curious about. You said that you attempted to emulate me when thinking of ways to escape the prison. Is that… I… I suppose what I wish to ask is simply: why?_ "

"Why did I emulate _you_ or why did I feel the need to emulate anyone?" Wally asked, just to clarify. He was pretty sure he knew what Kaldur meant, but he wanted to check before he bared his soul.

Kaldur quickly confirmed, " _Why did you emulate me, specifically?_ "

Wally sighed, pressing his lips together, "It's not really easy to explain. Well, no. It is easy. I know it's easy. It's just an unfamiliar experience for me. Kaldur, you are my friend. I would go so far as to say you're easily one of my best friends, family even. You're an awesome hero and an amazing leader. It's not hard to look up to you. I never really wanted to be a leader. I'm not _supposed_ to be a leader. I mean, I think I do fine, but I really don't think the role is suited to me. At least, it certainly wasn't when I started this. Maybe I grew into it. I don't know. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that when it's the two of us working together, I feel better. I feel more secure, more confident, more natural in my role. Being co-leaders? Being co-leaders with _you_? That's a role I was meant to fill. I quickly grew to rely on that, to – to _trust_ that. That bond, that feeling, _you_. Since I couldn't have you in that prison with me, I was just going to have to do my best to emulate you. We could have gotten out of that prison together, no problem. So, yeah. That's why."

There was a long pause. Wally had faintly heard the sound of Kaldur walking sometime during his little speech and figured that the other had gone somewhere more private. It was silent over the comms then, no moving, no sounds. Eventually, Wally tentatively probed, "Kaldur?"

There was (shockingly) a small sniffle, and then Kaldur answered, voice hoarse, " _That is more than I could have ever wished for, my friend. Please know that the feeling is mutual. I did not ask to be leader of this group. Robin was actually the one who attempted to be leader, but it did not work out and the others voted me leader. I was unprepared. There were many moments where I believed that I was making every mistake that I could make. I felt as if I failed my team more than I helped it. Of course, I was able to grow past that, but it was only with a large amount of work and a rather brutal wake-up call. I still did not fit comfortably into the position of leadership, however. I believe I was too strict with the others, too formal and distanced. After working with you and seeing your own team and leading abilities, I realized my mistake. I was able to allow myself to thaw and reach out to teammates other than Robin or Roy. My team is stronger because of it._ I _am stronger because of it. Because of you. I believe we have helped each other greatly._ "

"Yeah," Wally breathed, a little overwhelmed with the true emotion in Kaldur's voice.

Kaldur finished with a little clearing of his throat and the words, " _That is all for now, my friend. We should speak on this further in person. Now, please go ask your team if they will be coming back to live with us. Please let me know as soon as you know. Aqualad out._ "

"Will do. See you, Kaldur. Supersonic, out," Wally said, pressing the button that would disconnect him from that line.

Well, that was supposed to be the easier conversation and Wally felt like he'd been put through the emotional wringer. Awesome.

Sighing, Wally grabbed his IV stand and started rolling it out towards the living room where Cameron had probably gathered the others. This was probably good timing since Wally needed to get the IV bag changed. He really should learn how to do it himself (can patients do it themselves? He really didn't know. That was probably something he should know…).

Slowly (so, so, so slowly because he was still a little weak and he had to drag this dumb IV stand behind him), Wally made his way to the living room. Everyone was there when he arrived, so he was able to just plop himself on the loveseat next to Jinx. She absentmindedly grabbed his hand, rubbing a soothing thumb over the arch of his own thumb.

He sent her a tiny, probably smitten smile before turning back to the group as a whole, "Alright, I'm tired and I'm sure you guys are tired, so I'm just going to come out and say it. I want us to go back to living with the Team. We need to defeat Darkseid and we can do that best from there. Also, they're our friends."

The group blinked at him before Lorraine asked tentatively, "And after?"

"After we move in or after Darkseid?" Wally asked. Why can't people be clearer about their questions when they ask them?

Lorraine grimaced, "After Darkseid. When our two teams weren't friends, moving out seemed like a much easier concept. What's move out going to be like after Darkseid? Because we have, effectively, defeated the Light. With Savage in custody, every member of their council is captured. Their plans are in shambles. So, there's no need for us to stay longer."

Wally narrowed his eyes before pressing a finger against his temple, "I'm not up to my usual, already abysmal standard of people skills right about now. Do you want to stay after Darkseid or do you not? I can't tell if you're more worried about them wanting us to stay or them wanting us to _not_ stay."

It was Garfield who answered, "The second one. Personally."

Kelvin nodded in agreement, "We all know that the place out in Louisiana isn't the Team's original headquarters. They moved somewhere else so it would be convenient for us. We have literally put some of them out of their homes. It's not really fair of us to ask them to stay there longer just so we can… I don't know. What would we even be doing?"

"We do still need to dismantle the remaining factions of the Light. There are still plans in motion. They're the ones who engineered the world-wide metahuman hate. That's still, technically, within our purview based on the original contract we wrote," Cameron answered.

Jinx snorted, "We are so far from the original contract that I don't even know where the contract is. I mean, I'm pretty sure both sides have broken rules already. Probably a lot. There's no way that contract isn't null."

"Then it's at least still under our purview based on the original verbal agreement," Cameron argued.

"That won't matter if they want us gone," Dinah pointed out.

Wally stopped the debate before it could devolve into arguing, "Look, that doesn't matter right now. You know me. I'm very much a focus on the current problem kind of person. Current problem? Darkseid. Current working solution? Train with the Team, the Teen Titans, the Justice League, and the Alliance to be able to defeat him. After that, we'll sit down, all of us, and have a conversation about where we want the alliance between us to go. Then we'll have a conversation with just the Team to talk about living arrangements. We can't have a proper argument about this because we're making assumptions on how the Team will act and think. We'll let _them_ make their own decisions _after_ Darkseid is dealt with. Alright?"

The others ducked their heads, looking chastised. Wally sighed. He didn't want that. He just wanted to focus on one thing at a time. They all had legitimate concerns. At the moment, the relationship that the Circus had with the Team was probably the shakiest it had been in a long, long time.

Passing a tired hand over his face, Wally sent the group a small smile, "Alright, so, do we all agree to moving back in with the Team?" He waited until he got nods from every single person before he nodded back, "Good. I'll call them and let them know. Then I'll get a teleporter to bring us to a neutral position where the Team can pick us up from. Let's get to training."

BBBBBB

Bruce narrowed his eyes at the man trapped in the room before him. Savage was being exceptionally difficult. Especially with his new demand.

Next to him, Wally's lips were pursed, and his eyes were literally sparking. The speedster had barely gotten a chance to get off the bioship before Diana told him that Savage was refusing to talk to anyone but Wally. Bruce had watched on the cameras as Wally's shoulders slumped, a truly, fully exhausted set taking over his features. Bruce hadn't realized just how much of that world-weary tiredness had lifted from Wally's countenance over the months he'd been working with the heroes, but it was starkly obvious now that the exhaustion had come back.

Clark cleared his throat, "You don't have to do this, you know."

"There's not much that I do _have_ to do," Wally sighed, "But we both know that if I don't do this, then our chance at getting the info he's got goes straight down the drain."

Clark frowned, but didn't disagree. Barry flitted about behind them, hovering anxiously, "You don't have to do it _today_ , though. You should rest and recover. At least wait until you're off the IV!"

Wally frowned back at his uncle, "For all we know, Darkseid is going to pop on over to Earth _tomorrow_. We can't afford to wait."

"I hope he doesn't show up tomorrow," Hal announced darkly, "I'm having a movie night with Harold. Maybe Darkseid _should_ show up then. I'd be mad enough to kill him myself." Unwillingly, Bruce felt the corners of his lips turn upwards. Hal had been giddier than a small child on Christmas when he found out that the Circus was moving back in with the Team. He'd also been more depressed than Charlie Brown on Halloween when he found out that he was expected to be present at Savage's interrogation as security.

Wally sighed again, scrubbing a hand over his face and puffing his cheeks up just to blow out a huge breath of air, "Okay. I'm going to go in. Please don't let him kill me." And then he was gone, walking as quickly as he could with the IV stand behind him into the room where Savage was held prisoner. Barry made a small squeak of protest, but didn't say anything further, allowing Wally to do what he needed to do.

Bruce watched with narrow eyes as Wally tenderly sat himself down in the other chair in the room. He was disturbed by what he saw.

Savage looked… _demented_. Sure, it wasn't strange for villains to look demented (anyone in Gotham could tell you that), but it was strange for _Savage_ to look demented. Savage's entire image was held up by his iron-will and calm, collected attitude. Bruce figured it was that image and control that had allowed Savage to lead a group of strong-willed villains like the Light.

Wally seemed to see the same thing because his expression flickered with disgust and fear before settling on something that looked strangely like pity. Lips twisting downward, Wally commented softly, "You really do care about this world. You're scared that you're going to lose it."

Evidently, that was the cue Savage needed to pull himself back together because he closed his eyes briefly. His expression was calm and smooth when he opened his eyes again, "I have been here for 50,000 years. Is it no wonder that I've fallen in love with it?"

"I would have gotten sick of it," Wally shrugged.

Savage tilted his head, the cold, calculating look much more familiar on him, "It is easier to love a world you control than one that controls you."

Wally's eyes narrowed in a moment of hate before he clenched his fists and spoke through gritted teeth, "You know why I'm here, Savage. Why won't you just tell us when Darkseid is going to show up? It's not going to affect you any at this point. It's better if we know." Savage stared at him in silence. Wally's lips pulled together into a deeper frown, before, suddenly, he smirked, "Oh, I see now. You're pouting."

"I'm… _what_?" Savage asked, voice more dangerous than a lot of the villains Bruce knows.

Wally's smirk only widened at the tone, "You're pouting. Sulking. Throwing a tantrum like a little kid. Take your pick. How does it feel to have your entire plan fall to pieces because of the heroes you didn't trust to save the world? You're just trying to feel like you're still important!"

"I will _kill_ you," Savage promised, practically shaking in his bonds. Bruce watched as that calm, collected mask started to fall away again.

"You can't," Wally threw casually, smirk drifting away and determination taking its place, "You can't, and you won't. The fact of the matter is this: you only have two choices. Choice one is where you give us the information and we defeat Darkseid and you live. Choice two is where you _don't_ give us the information and it's a toss up whether the world survives or not. Whether _you_ survive or not. I know you think you're immortal or whatever, but I'm sure there's a way to kill you somehow. And if we fail and you're not killed… well, I can't imagine Darkseid as the kind of person who'd say no to a new _pet_."

Savage snarled, bucking against his restraints. Bruce had to put a calming hand on Barry's shoulder to stop the older speedster from running into the room and ruining everything. Savage was still shaking when he forced out, "You will fail no matter what. It doesn't matter if you know when he's coming."

"We don't have to," Wally said. Bruce's eyebrows bunched together as he tried to figure out where Wally was going with that. Wally continued, "You obviously have more concrete plans in place than just make people stronger! You're too clever to put everything on the hope that humanity will evolve at the pace you want it to. Give us access to the other parts of your plan. Show us how to work them. Give us access to your people. They don't want to die anymore than you do. Your plans aren't going to work, so give us the best chance we have at getting out of this situation alive."

"You _will_ fail," Savage said, eyes dark with his hatred.

Wally scoffed in disgust, "It's like you don't even want the world to live."

"It would have if you hadn't interfered!" Savage shouted.

Wally shouted back, "It still will if you just _grow up_ and admit you need help to save Earth! _Honestly_. Do you know how you were defeated? It was because, months ago, two groups of _teenagers_ realized that they were in over their heads and _grew up_ long enough to _ask for help_. That's how you were defeated! _That's_ what took you down!"

Savage's snarl was his worst yet, the chair actually groaning in protest when the man threw himself against the bonds. Wally's didn't even flinch. Reluctantly, Bruce found himself incredibly impressed. Wally was a teenager. Only sixteen years old. He was sitting there in an overlarge t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, hastily stuffed on running shoes finishing the picture. Wally held the gauntness that only came from a long time starving and there were still streaking remains of cuts and bruises and worse scrawled across his visible skin. He'd been put through the worst kinds of situations due to Savage. And yet… here he sat, able to control himself better than the 50,000-year-old immortal. It was… impressive.

It was even more impressive when Savage finally slumped against his bonds and hissed, "Darkseid will be here in a month. I'll give you the access to my other plans."

Bruce listened with half an ear as Savage gave the details of his plans away, pausing only to snarl insults and deliver thinly veiled threats. The interrogation (as much as it could be called that) was being recorded and Bruce would go back and watch it again no matter how well he listened now.

Instead, he focused on _watching_. He meant to watch Savage, to look at his mannerisms and try to catch a lie in the making, no matter if Clark would hear it at the same time. He didn't watch Savage, though. He watched Wally and felt the deep, creeping sensation of shame take over him again. It wasn't the first time he'd looked at a member of the Circus and felt this shame and it wouldn't be the last.

The first time he'd felt this was when he interviewed Wally about the layout and actions of the camp the kid had been held in. Bruce had known before he went to interrogate Wally that the camps weren't what they said they were. That's why he'd had the conversation in the first place. Sure, it took a lot longer than it should have to _realize_ that there was something bad going on with the camps, but he'd eventually realized it. He just hadn't realized how bad it was. Every answer Wally gave was a knife forced through Bruce's heart, an icy shard shoved deeper with each word. The camps were aptly named because the only thing Bruce could think about when he heard the name was concentration camps.

Sure, there were differences, but… were there really that many? The camp where Wally had been taken – where he'd been _raised_ , essentially, having gotten there so young – was horrific. Forced labor? Experimentation? Treating the prisoners like objects? Not keeping any sort of records? Destroying everything the people brought in with them? That wasn't right. That was so far from right that Bruce had had to take a couple hours to himself that night, just trying to breathe through the guilt.

Why did anyone ever think that creating camps with no outgoing contact and _armed escorts_ was a good idea? Why didn't anyone make a connection? Why didn't _Bruce_?

He knew better than to fully blame himself, of course. He knew that it wasn't entirely his fault. He knew that this was all part of a highly detailed plan that had a ridiculous number of years of preparation at this point. That didn't negate the shame pooling in his gut, though. Bruce didn't think it ever would. He wouldn't be able to look at a metahuman without thinking of the information he'd gotten from Wally. He wouldn't be able to look at the Circus again without thinking of them risking their very lives to get out of that place, probably leaving others behind.

He wouldn't be able to look Wally's parents in the eyes without feeling seething rage flow through him at the thought that _they_ were the ones that called the Collection Agency on him.

Even more than the shame he felt when he saw Wally, though, was the _pride_. The poise and fierce expression that Wally wore like a second skin, even now, only two days after a month of torture, was magnificent. It was made all the more powerful by the thought of everything he gave up getting to this point. Everything he _suffered_. It was heartbreaking that he'd been pushed so far, but it was beautiful watching him stand back up after it all.

Bruce sighed, rolling his neck slightly. He needed to focus on more important things. They had a month until Darkseid came back to Earth. That was it. They needed to get a lot of things done in that point. First and foremost, they needed to amass an army. Maybe even several armies. Talking to the UN would be his first order of business. Prime Minister Tseng had finally been promoted to Secretary General of the United Nations and Bruce knew that the man felt at least some measure of fondness and respect towards the heroes and metahumans who had saved his life.

Next would be setting up a training schedule. Not only did a lot of the members of the alliance need to learn how to fight better than they already could, they also needed to learn how to fight _together_. Teamwork would be essential in this. Making a plan even more so. Bruce would need to get the leaders of all five teams together in order to discuss planning and organize the training sessions more efficiently. It would be an unbelievable amount of work.

Bruce paused in his thinking to once again watch Wally meticulously and concisely interrogate Savage, not a hint of his surely failing strength and certain fear of the man before him showing.

Allowing the smallest of smiles to quirk his lips upward, Bruce figured that if Wally could be this strong, then he could too.

WWWWWW

Wally sighed as he watched the rest of the teenagers train. One week down, three more to go until Darkseid's arrival. It hadn't really set in, yet. The thought was always buzzing in the backs of people's minds, of course, but no one had _really_ come to terms with the idea that they were going to fight someone who had fought countless _planets_ and won before.

Recruitment was going _crazy_. Heroes were popping up out of the woodwork, hailing from every state and even several other countries, ready to help fight this thing. Wally wasn't sure how they knew about the problem since the Justice League had been keeping the imminent possibility of a world-takeover pretty quiet, but somehow they knew. And they just kept coming.

More than that, though, there were metas crawling out of the woodwork, ready to help. The Alliance had talked to old members first. They weren't asking the members to rejoin (although, they wouldn't mind if the members did), but a lot of the people who had left had their own little meta safehouses going. They weren't anywhere near as advanced as actual underground metahuman groups, but they were still spots for metas to heal and get tips on where to go next. The Alliance was just asking for contact details of those runaway metas to see if any of them were willing to help in the fight. A lot of them were saying yes.

The members of New Holo City had agreed to fight without anyone even asking them. Wally figured that he wasn't the only one feeling guilt about their displacement and the emotional trauma they'd suffered, so no one wanted to ask them to risk their lives once again, especially not in a battle as daunting as this. That didn't stop them from finding out about it (it would be hard not to with every Alliance base in overdrive, training, recruiting, preparing) and offering themselves to the fight.

It broke Wally's heart, honestly. He'd never wanted this for his people. He'd wanted them to have a nice, peaceful life. Away from humans, away from the pain of their past. He'd just wanted them to be safe the way that so many of their kind wasn't. Now here they were, going to battle again.

Wally sighed again, leaning back up against the wall. Tomorrow, he'd be able to get back into the game and start training. Dr. Thompkins just wanted to make sure that Wally was back up to somewhere close to his usual body weight before they started him in on this. He'd need to do a lot of work to get his muscles back up again, but it would be worth it.

They couldn't afford to lose this fight.

A nearby ding startled Wally and a few of the others, almost causing Artemis to shoot Roy in the thigh. He cursed at her soundly, only stopping when Dinah gave him her Disappointed Look. Wally felt a small smile curve his lips at the sight. With the rapidly growing romance between Dinah and Oliver, the meta had really started to see Roy as her kid, taking to mothering him at every chance she got. He always complained about it, but he'd confided to Wally that it was actually kind of nice, sometimes.

The ding sounded again, and Robin groaned, "Yes, yes. We've got it, computer. Training is over. We're going to go get clean now, calm down."

Wally grimaced as the others trekked past him, going off to the showers. He stood up as well, grateful that he no longer had to drag the IV stand behind him (even if he still wasn't supposed to run around at superspeed) as he walked towards his own room. Somehow, in the peacefulness of watching the others train, he'd managed to momentarily forget what they were doing that day.

They were going to meet with Amanda Waller and her go-to military team to discuss the allocation and usage of Argus resources in the upcoming confrontation. Wally thought this was a horrible idea since the Collection Agency and Argus are intrinsically linked. He also thought this was a horrible idea because Argus is a governmental body and the Circus and Teen Titans were both, legally, terrorist groups. The Team just told him not to worry about it. Easy for them to say.

Frowning, Wally finished suiting up, leaving his cowl to hang around his shoulders. He really, really didn't want to have this meeting. He especially didn't want to bring his team to have this meeting. If he could get them as far away from Waller as possible, that'd be great. It was too bad she was paranoid and asked that they all be present for the meeting. Psychopath.

A quiet knock on his door startled him. Yelping a little in surprise, Wally tried to calm his breathing as he opened the door to see Jaime standing there. He smiled a little, "Hey, Blue. What's up?"

Jaime quirked a smile at him, gesturing awkwardly at Wally's room, "Could I come inside, boss?"

"Sure thing," Wally said, stepping aside and letting the door fall shut behind Jaime. When it seemed like Jaime wasn't going to make the first move, Wally asked, "What's up?"

Jaime hesitated, opened his mouth, closed it, then seemed to steel himself and open it one more time, "I… you know this is armor around me, right?"

"Yes?" Wally said, tilting his head to the side, "Not that it would matter if it wasn't."

Jaime's fleeting smile seemed stronger that time and he huffed out a grateful breath before continuing, "Well, it's not _entirely_ armor. I mean, yes. It's armor. There is definitely armor around my body. What I mean is that the armor is _from_ something else. This is all… the armor, the weapons, the – the all of it, is from something else. Some _one_ else?"

"Jaime," Wally said patiently, used to a similar kind of rambling from Garfield, "Who is the armor from?"

The fleeting smile came back and then stayed as Jaime finally grinned at him, "He likes that you asked 'who' instead of 'what' in case you were wondering. But, the armor is from the, uh, scarab on my back?"

Wally tried to avoid lifting incredulous eyebrows and instead said as calmly as he could, "Could you show me?"

"Oh, yeah! That makes sense!" Jaime said, a blush dusting his cheeks as the armor folded away from him. He turned around to show a large scarab the same colors as his armor attached to his back.

Wally couldn't help the incredulous eyebrows as his fingers ghosted the air above the scarab, pulling back before he could touch it, "Okay. That's legit. Different, a little strange, honestly, but legit. What's his name? You did say he, right?"

"Right! And, well, I guess I've been calling him Scarab," Jaime said, rubbing the back of his neck. His eyes flickered up towards Wally before skittering to the floor, "So, I guess I should tell you why I'm telling you this. If that makes sense. Look, boss. I'm new to this whole superhero thing, right? Even newer to the teamwork stuff. But even I know that I should make sure that my teammates know the full extent of my abilities before we try to take on someone like Darkseid. I know that if I can get Scarab under control, then I can be a lot more powerful than I am now. Right now, we fight more than we agree, and it just makes it so much harder to actually save people. He also just wants to kill everyone! It's really annoying!"

Wally blinked at the rant, "Okay, so, you want me to help you control the scarab attached to your back?"

"Yes," Jaime breathed out, obviously relieved at having told _someone_ about his predicament.

Wally smiled, "Thanks for coming to me about this. I can do that. Well, I'm not going to teach you to fully _control_ Scarab. I don't know enough about him for that. I can, however, act as a mediator between the two of you. You need to make friends with him. From what I'm gathering, you two are basically in a symbiotic relationship. Working _together_ is the best way to increase your skill. And probably also your general quality of life."

Jaime's mouth dropped open, "I don't want to be friends with him!" He paused before frowning, "Oh, shut up. I'd make a great friend! Oh really? That's a blatant lie if I ever heard one. Shut _up_ you stupid bug!"

Trying to stop himself from smiling, Wally coughed lightly into his hand, "Well, I guess you don't _need_ to be friends with him, but you do need to at least get to a stage where you aren't calling him a stupid bug and he isn't yelling at you all the time. How about this? We'll set up a daily meeting where the three of us will talk. You'll have to translate for him, which is a little inconvenient, but you know. That's how things go. Sound good? We can start tomorrow since I'm sure this meeting with the military people is going to suck."

Huffing out a laugh that quickly grew, Jaime only finished laughing once the two of them had gotten to the bioship, "Yeah, sounds good."

The others gave the two of them curious glances but didn't say anything. Wally was pretty sure that a lot of the Team members thought it was weird that he'd bonded with Jaime so quickly. The Teen Titans probably thought that Wally was incapable of forming friendship-like bonds with non-metas. Or something like that at least.

Wally sighed as he dropped into a seat, Jinx on one side and Cameron and Artemis on the other, "Am I the only one who is endlessly impressed by this ship?"

M'gann giggled from her spot at the controls, "Thank you, Supersonic!"

Wally smiled and turned back to the people on other side of him, "Please don't make me go to this meeting. Can I say I'm still recovering? Because I'm not recovered enough to do this."

"Oh, grow up, you big baby," Artemis grumbled. Cameron beamed like she'd said something intelligent.

Wally scowled, "Wow, great insults. Really skilled. I'm _so_ impressed."

Artemis scowled at him, "We'll see how impressed you are when I _shoot you_."

Cameron laughed nervously, "Hey, Jinx? You want to switch spots? You could sit between these homicidal maniacs."

"Or we could both move and leave them to tear each other apart," Jinx suggested mildly.

Luckily, Kaldur interrupted any chance of them tearing each other apart, "Team, Circus, Teen Titans, Max. I know that you have all been briefed on what we expect to happen at the meeting, but I wish to go over the broad strokes once more. First and foremost, please do not speak until spoken to. The leaders of each group know the details of the operation and are better prepared to navigate through Waller's politics. Beyond that, please understand that, even on our side, Waller is a dangerous woman. Do not make an enemy of her. Finally, protect the Circus and the Teen Titans. As much as we know it to not be true, those two groups are terrorist organizations in Waller's eyes. She has been known to make use of terrorists before, but she would be putting herself and her organization in the terrorists' hands this time. We all need to be careful."

Everyone nodded to him. They didn't get a chance to do much more than that before the bioship was descending. They'd reached the meeting point.

Wally, Koriand'r, and Kaldur walked out first, their respective teams trailing out behind them. Waller was standing in the clearing, back straight, expression severe. Fanned out behind her was the man known as Colonel Rick Flag and his Navy Seals team.

Waller spoke first, not even giving them a chance to lead the conversation, "How big of a threat is Darkseid, truthfully? And why haven't I heard of him until now?"

Kaldur answered, "Although we hold out home, it is unknown if we can defeat Darkseid even with all of the resources we currently have available and with all of the resources we hope to have available. He has taken over many other planets, easily. You have not heard of him because we only just heard of him. The criminal Vandal Savage was the only one who knew of Darkseid and he chose to not tell anyone except, perhaps, the criminal group known as the Light."

"Batman has already sent me the particulars on what you are asking from me and what data you have on Darkseid. I don't want to talk about that. I want to know two things. My first question I'll address to Supersonic and Starfire. Why should I trust my organization to terrorists?" Waller threw out, turning her intense glare onto Wally and Koriand'r instead of Kaldur.

Wally straightened, "You had no problem trusting your organization to the Collection Agency which was created by one of the most dangerous groups of criminals to date." That was… not what he meant to say. At all. Just… that look in Waller's eyes? That self-satisfied smirk? It reminded Wally too much of Savage. He hadn't been able to help snarking at her.

Thankfully (very, very thankfully), Waller only seemed to find it amusing, her lips ticking up into a thin but seemingly genuine smile before she said, "I suppose I don't require more of an answer than that. That leads to my second question. This one is for Maxwell Lord. How long had you been going behind my back and working for the Circus?" Wally wanted to open his mouth to argue, but he knew he needed to stay quiet for this. It was Max's chance to speak.

Max gave her a roguish grin, "I've never worked for the Circus a day in my life, ma'am. I've been their benefactor since their creation. And I wouldn't say it was necessarily _behind your back_. You knew that I joined all those anti-meta groups so I could help minimize damage to metas. Is it really that much of a surprise that I went one step further?"

Waller sighed, "It couldn't be helped, I guess. You are a wanted terrorist now, as well, in case you were wondering. And someone managed to realize that you were a metahuman, so the groups you were heading are especially upset."

"Yeah," Max sighed, "I know."

Waller looked them all over, expression flat and blank and only the slightest bit unhinged, "I will work with you. Argus's resources are yours with myself or Flag's approval on every request. He will work directly with you. The moment Darkseid is defeated, you will no longer have access to Darkseid's resources, understand?" They all nodded; they understood perfectly. The moment Darkseid was defeated, the Argus resources would turn on the Circus and the Titans instead. Charming

"That will be all," Waller said. She turned on her heel and marched away, the soldiers falling into a defensive position around her.

Once they were sure she was gone, Wally sagged, "She's psycho. I don't even know her, but I know she's psycho."

"I _do_ know her, and I can confirm that," Max muttered just as warily.

Kaldur smiled at them, "All that matters for now is that we have amassed a large group of warriors. Even a large number of criminals have joined alongside the Rogues. With this, we _will_ be able to defeat Darkseid."

 **Author's Note: I know that I only really mention the name once just because I have a Thing about using names only when they're from the DC universe, but remember my baby reference to Kelly Olsen? Well, I found her as I was looking for psychologists/therapists in the DC universe. There is an** _ **appalling**_ **lack of good psychologists in DC. Like, there are a trash-ton of evil ones, but good? None. I feel like that little fact explains a whole lot about DC. Also, this chapter didn't just run away from me. It sprinted like a speedster away from me. I don't even know where all these words came from. Also, also (sorry, I'm chatty today), the first part in Wally's POV? That was meant to be 1,000 words, max. Not over 5k. I honestly don't even know what happened with this chapter. One moment, it was normal. The next moment, it was over 10k.**


	63. Chapter 63

**Author's Note: Almost there! Also, yikes. Re-read the last chapter and there were a fair bit of mistakes in there that I didn't catch. Sorry about that! Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – Thanks for the review!**

 **Guest – Hmm… I've read all your ideas for the Rogue Status sequel and I definitely think I can work them into the basic idea I've already sketched out. The blood on the hands might be a little harder, but the killing one I can definitely work in. I love hearing ideas from my readers, so it's no problem! Thanks for the reviews and the ideas!**

 **Guest – Thank you so much for the very nice review!**

WWWWWW

Wally knew he was shaking. He was also desperately trying to _stop_ shaking. Was this how ambassadors felt all the time? This was horrible.

Somehow, Wally had gotten roped into being part of the landing party for Darkseid's _army_. How? Wally wasn't entirely certain. He figured it had something to do with him not wanting to let anyone else get hurt, so he'd go instead, but… he didn't want to be there.

When the heroes had suggested that they have a small contingent of heroes, metas, and military men greet Darkseid and his people when they came, Wally had outright laughed. Koriand'r and Barry had laughed, too. The heroes and Flag had looked deeply uncomfortable and Wally realized they weren't kidding. He'd been horrified at that point. What were they going to do? Talk him out of it.

Apparently. The heroes were _sporting_ enough to give Darkseid the chance to reconsider his evil ways or something like that. More like, they were dumb enough to get themselves killed trying to give Darkseid an out he obviously wasn't going to take. He didn't take it all those years ago when he fought Savage. He wasn't going to do it now.

Wally had only (reluctantly) agreed with the greeting party when Koriand'r had suggested that it would be an excellent distraction for the rest of the attack force. The heroes had looked pained that it took that for Wally to accept the idea. Wally thought they were dumb.

And yet, Wally thought, who was really the dumb one? It was Wally standing there, waiting for Darkseid to land on their planet and kill literally everyone. He'd convinced the rest of his metas to stay with the attack force, but Cisco from the Alliance had managed to worm their way onto the ambassador team. Wally hadn't been there for that decision and he couldn't imagine who would look at Cisco and think he was a good idea for negotiations and peace talks. Then again, he did look rather non-threatening which helped with the peace idea. And he could get away quickly with his portal things. Maybe he was a better choice than Wally had originally thought.

Honestly, though, Wally was just glad that no one was expecting him to be doing much of the talking. He was there to represent metahumans. It was Batman and Superman who were supposed to be talking Darkseid down. Wally had zero problem leaving that responsibility all to them. There was a reason that the Circus always sent Lorraine out first to greet people.

"Nervous?" Clark asked softly, moving over to stand next to Wally.

Wally scowled at the ground, "I'd be insane to not be."

Clark laughed quietly, careful not to disturb the other anxious members of their party, "Yeah, probably. You did a brave thing, coming up here and being a part of this group."

Wally brought his head up and raised his eyebrow at Clark, "I did a dumb thing."

Clark laughed again, "Okay, true. Still, a lot of dumb things are pretty brave."

They sat in companionable silence (the little sliver of Wally's inner child that had survived all of this time was shrieking with joy at the fact that he _could_ do this with _Superman_ ) before Wally blurted, "Do you think we'll win?"

And Clark looked at him, serious and calm and self-assured in a way that Wally didn't think he'd ever manage, "Yes, of course." Wally smiled at him, bigger than he'd smiled in weeks. He wasn't sure how much of that comment was to calm Wally down and how much was actual conviction, but it was heartening to hear regardless.

Wally opened his mouth to say something back, but Batman's voice cut over the group first, "He's entered the atmosphere."

The group gathered closer, peering at the holographic screen glowing over Batman's wrist. It showed the position and numbers of ships coming into the atmosphere. There were… a lot of them. _A lot_.

Then again, there were a lot of people in this fight, too. Wally had been more than impressed at the forces that had answered when their five groups had gone calling. It shouldn't have surprised him. The Justice League had been around _forever,_ and they had the respect of heroes all over the world. They had the respect of governments, of citizens, of the UN. They had friends in all sorts of high places, connections and little alliances that made a world of difference. Their connection with Argus had been a lifesaver, too. The Alliance had been in place for over ten years by that point. They'd rescued people from all walks of life. They'd insinuated people into every layer of a lot of governments. They'd personally worked with, helped, or befriended many officials and rich people across the world. The Teen Titans had been active for three years and had connections to a lot of the same groups as the heroes, causing an even deeper need for groups to fight back. The people they'd rescued were more than willing to fight this battle with them.

The Circus had been active for two years and was one of the most well-known groups in the meta underground. The number of groups they'd managed to rustle up and convince to fight alongside the heroes had been impressive. Even Wally had been impressed by the number of groups his team had made an impact on. That wasn't even mentioning the lasting connections Max had, or the Green Team. Wally had even managed to convince the Rogues to fully come back into their agreement (the two month deadline that the Rogues had given him had passed during his time in captivity, but they, reluctantly, hadn't withdrawn their money when they heard that Wally was dead) and they'd brought a horde of villains into the fold. That had caused a little bit of tension, but everyone had adapted quickly. Villains or heroes or metas or other, they all just wanted to survive this battle.

The Team wasn't able to offer much in regards to connections since most of their connections were also the Justice League's connections and they were a covert operations group, but they had been invaluable in helping keep up communication with everyone. The other groups were all drowning under all the training and recruitment they were doing, but the Team had been there to help them.

There were a lot of players in this fight, but still… Wally was, by nature, an optimistic person. He was, by experience, though, a suspicious person. He was often suspicious of fights that seemed to be going in his direction. The amount of support they had for this was staggering. He didn't think it was so odd that he was so suspicious of everything going well.

Because it really was going well. Everyone now had a lot more training under their belts. They were stronger, faster, _better_ for the diverse range of teachers. Everyone knew each other a lot better now. Jaime had bonded well with Khaji Dha even if the two of them still had some work to do. People had a better understanding of each other's powers. More importantly, in Wally's mind, the governments and militaries of the world had a much better understanding of metahumans. They had met and interacted with the Circus, the Alliance, and the Teen Titans. They had talked with the members of New Holo City, had learned of the trials and tribulations that the metas had gone through. They'd met the children who were freed from the camps, had heard their stories. The hearts of the men and women out there were already changing. All it took was some time spent together. It gave Wally hope.

It also gave him an even stronger determination to win this battle. Things were finally going well. He wasn't going to lose that. Not like this. Not ever.

The spaceships landed.

Swallowing, Wally straightened, looking straight ahead even if he knew that they wouldn't be able to see his eyes through the goggles he wore. Darkseid stepped down first, raising one large, judgmental eyebrow at the gathered group of heroes and metas. He didn't say anything.

Clark stepped forward, Batman a silent shadow behind him, "Welcome to Earth. We are the Justice League. We know of your former interactions with Vandal Savage, but he does not represent Earth anymore. We, as a group, will be representing Earth today. We wish to speak with you about reaching a peaceable outcome."

Darkseid started laughing, a horrible booming, creaking noise that Wally felt down to his bones, "You, the _Justice League_ wish to speak of peace? I know of your peace. You showed it quite clearly on Rimbor."

Clark winced. Batman moved forward to support him, "The tragedy on Rimbor was due to Savage's mind control. He was controlling our actions."

The laughter fell from Darkseid's face and he gazed at them, as disinterested as a snobbish ruler listening to a peasant, "If you allowed him to control you, then you are weaker than I had been promised. Savage told me there would be true warriors when I returned. Obviously, this is not the case." Wally bristled, but even he knew better than to open his mouth in a moment like this. He could see Cisco having the same struggle next to him.

Clark's eyebrows drew together, and he pulled himself up, "We do not wish to fight."

"I don't care," Darkseid side. His voice was apathetic, but an unholy light made his red eyes glow. Wally came to the sick realization that Darkseid was enjoying watching them plead. He thought it was amusing that his toy things would dare to beg for their lives in front of him before he destroyed them. That was what was going through his mind. It had to be with that glint in them. Some… some of the guards at the camp had gotten that light in their eyes when they'd cornered a meta somewhere. This was the twisted pleasure of a bully on steroids, with the power to destroy worlds.

There was going to be no talking with this alien. He'd already made up his mind to destroy them. Nothing they said was going to change his mind.

Wally opened his mind, grasping onto the link that Martian Manhunter was maintaining for this ambassador group (Wally, Cisco, and the military men had all paused at the thought of letting J'onn form the bond, all for different reasons, all with different trust issues, but they'd eventually let him in), ready to warn them, but he didn't get the chance.

Batman growled into the mind link first, _This isn't working. We're going to have to attack._

That was Wally's signal to move. Clark sighed at the front and then _lasered_ Darkseid right in the face. The alien was so shocked that he did nothing but roar in anger for a second. Luckily, that second was all they needed. Cisco opened the portal and Wally shoved each member of the party through as quickly as he could, feeling a little weird about momentarily carrying Batman. They were all through the portal in less than a second. Then Cisco grabbed Wally's arm and the two jumped in together.

Wally gasped at the feeling, still not quite used to it. Everyone had practiced using other people's modes of transports so they wouldn't be put off by the feeling in battle, but that didn't mean that they _liked_ it. Not that Wally _disliked_ Cisco's portals. They just – felt weird. Very weird.

But Wally didn't have time to concentrate on that because they were _attacking Darkseid_. And, yes, Wally had just spent the whole last however long contemplating the stupidity of trying to come to a peaceable arrangement with the alien, but it was only just now hitting him that he was really in the middle of the battle.

Fantastic.

The first core group was already advancing, taking out Darkseid's army from behind. Teleporters would have already started raiding the spaceships. Their main goal was to stop anyone else from getting _out_ of the spaceships. One group of teleporters – ones that were better at blind teleporting – would bring people into what Savage had indicated were control rooms. They would bring Hackers or technopaths or other people well-versed in alien spacecraft along with some soldiers to protect them. They would then lock themselves into the control room, hoping no one could get through, and then they'd shut down the spaceships, locking the doors as tight as possible.

The second group of teleporters landed on the outside of the ship. They hopped in and out, bringing people who could stop the doors from opening from the outside. Those with metallokinesis or with the ability to freeze or melt the doors shut. Poison Ivy was wrapping one of the ships completely in vines, to the point where Wally couldn't even see the ship anymore.

At some point, they would have to deal with the soldiers in the ship. At some point, the soldiers in the ship could break out. But for the moment? All they had to worry about were the soldiers who had already left the ship and Darkseid himself.

The soldiers were left to most of the remaining forces. Darkseid? That was for the leaders.

They were aware that Darkseid would cause damage to others, that they couldn't keep his attention entirely on themselves. But they could do their best to make sure that he focused squarely on them. And it was a good group for him to go after. Barry, Clark, and Wally were all fast enough that they served as excellent distractors and targets for his Omega beams. Clark was nearly indestructible, so he also served as a great main attacker force. Koriand'r and Kaldur were both hearty and determined enough to attack from the rear, darting in and out, dealing him slow but continuous damage. And Batman was… Batman. There was absolutely no reason he should ever be in a battle like this because he was just a fragile human, but Wally also knew that there was a good chance that Batman would do more damage than the rest of them combined because, well, Batman.

Wally yelped as Darkseid fired his Omega beams at someone other than the attack force centered on him for the first time. Wally rushed forward, trying desperately to figure out what the beam was locked onto. If he could just put something else in front of it, or get the beam to lock onto something else, then he'd be golden. What _was_ it locked onto?

Then he saw Poison Ivy gleefully strangling another ship in her vines. Wally gaped in horror. The beam would go straight through the ship to hit Ivy! Darkseid would kill scores of his own men!

Fury centered Wally as he raced forward, still determined to do something. He'd seen Superman take a beam straight to the chest and pop back up, ready to fight a couple minutes later. Wally couldn't just throw Superman at the bolt and hope it didn't hurt as much as it looked like it would, though. Wonder Woman had sliced through a bolt that had come too close to her. Batman's exploding batarangs had stopped one set of beams in its track.

None of this helped Wally. He didn't have any explosives or mystical swords or bodies of steel on him. All he had was his speed. That was all he needed.

Wally narrowed his eyes as an idea came to him. He knew the layout of the ships… if he could get the idea across to the teleporters… Wally quickly pushed a thought at M'gann, _Can you get me access to the teleporters? Quickly!_

She didn't respond, instead just letting the bond form so Wally could shout down it, _Which ships are empty?_ The teleporters startled and started rattling off which ships had already been abandoned as a good job by the hackers. Nodding, Wally threw back, _Get them clear, completely. But be on stand-by just in case. I'm, uh, not sure if this is going to help or hurt._

He received a few mental eyebrow-raises in return, but no one said anything, instead going off to their tasks. Wally winced as he got closer to Ivy. She was _not_ going to like this. Sighing, Wally rushed forward and swept Ivy off her feet without saying anything. She shrieked and scraped her fingernails almost threw his suit but recovered faster than he was expected. She hissed, " _What_ are you doing?"

Wally laughed nervously, "Darkseid's beams locked onto you. I guess you're that high-priority of a target. Congrats. I didn't have anything convenient to knock them out with, so I figured we'd see how sturdy they really are."

Ivy glanced between him and the ships they were closing in on before she settled on him, lips curling upwards as she purred, "How _smart_ you are."

That startled a small, incredulous laugh out of Wally, "Only if it works." She simply smirked up at him and tucked her head in between his shoulder and chin. What a weird lady. Then again, she was one of Gotham's villains.

Wally puffed out a breath as he felt the Omega beams getting closer. Gritting his teeth, he put on an extra burst of speed. He had to be very, very careful. They'd tried to keep Darkseid focused in the direction _away_ from all the fighting since Darkseid had very clearly shown that he didn't care if his own soldiers got caught in his crossfire, but these beams had gone straight into the path of the fighting. Most people had dived out of the way of them, but the battles had been sparser closer to where Darkseid fought. Here? The fighting was thick and messy. If Wally wanted to do this, he would have to be very careful where he stepped and how quickly he did it to make sure none of his teammates got hurt.

Luckily (or, well, not if he really thought about it), the beams went at the speed of whatever they were chasing. That meant that they had sped up dramatically to be able to catch up to Ivy in a speedster's arms. Which also meant that they would zoom past the others at a faster speed, making it them a threat for less time.

Taking another huge, gulping breath of air, Wally pushed himself even _faster_. Around him, everything stilled, silent and frozen. He bared his teeth and pushed on, skipping and dancing carefully around the people. If there was an isolated enemy soldier, he would brush past them, sending the bolt careening through them. Then, finally, he was back to the bulk of the ships. He really, _really_ hoped this worked like he thought it would.

Without another second to overthink his plan, Wally flung himself up, over, and around the closest ship that had been cleared by the good guys. The Omega beam _smashed_ through the thick armor, straight through…

The ship _exploded_ hard enough to send Wally stumbling, time fluctuating for a second before he got ahold of himself. Wally whooped. He'd really hoped that the Omega beam would follow his movements well enough to go straight through the engine, causing the thing to explode, but he'd been worried that it was just going to punch a hole straight through the side of the ship that would just end up being two easy exits for the soldiers.

The Omega beam heading straight towards his face tempered his euphoria, just a little. Hissing, Wally kept running, swerving and crawling over and around the ships like a particularly destructive bee.

He'd taken out five of the ships and many, many more soldiers when he realized that the Omega beams weren't losing steam. He laughed, somewhat hysterically, "What does it take to slow these things down?"

From his arms, face still tucked into his collarbone, Ivy offered, "Hit them with a Kryptonian. It looked like that was working."

Wally huffed out another laugh, "I'm not going to just shoot one of the Kryptonians with an Omega beam."

"Well, you wouldn't be doing the shooting, sweetie. _Darkseid_ shot them with an Omega beam," Ivy purred, peeking up at him just long enough for him to get a glimpse of a smug lip curl.

Shaking his head, Wally said, "Nice suggestion, but I like them too much to do that. More's the shame, I guess." Ivy laughed in delight. Smiling slightly, Wally got back to the idea at hand. It shouldn't be too hard to just…

The Omega beam spluttered out behind him. Wally blinked at it. From his arms, Ivy blinked at it. Wally blinked one more time for good measure, "Huh. I guess it has a set distance it can travel? Or maybe it's only a certain area of radius out from _him_ …"

Ivy tapped one pointed nail against his cheek, "Why don't you put me down and wait until the battle's over to figure that out, love?"

Wally blushed, "Right, of course, sorry."

"No problem," Ivy shrugged, "It was cute." She sent him a wink and he flushed. She just laughed and wandered away, a teleporter coming to pick her up in moments. Wally sighed and thought to himself that he really, really hoped that Jinx didn't hear about that.

Taking a deep breath, Wally ran back across the field, trying to get back to Darkseid. Halfway there, Barry sidled up beside him, running in the same direction, "Get waylaid by one of his beams?"

"Yeah, took me forever to drop it," Wally sighed.

Barry grinned, "Imagine what a training exercise that could be. I haven't been this tired running in _years_."

Wally let out another startled laugh, "Not sure that's a good thing, Flash." Barry just grinned in return.

The two speedsters quickly made it back to where Darkseid was. It seemed as if Batman had managed to some long stick _jammed_ into Darkseid's eye rather deep. It was… disgusting. Also, a little hypocritical? They won't kill, but they'll jam a sharp object through someone's eye?

Barry called into the comms, "Is the new goal to take out his eyes?"

" _Yes_ ," Kaldur responded, " _His Omega beams are his most dangerous asset at the moment. If we disable them, we greatly increase our chance at winning this battle_."

"Great," Barry grumbled, "Just what I wanted to do with my day. Stab someone's eye out."

" _Did we_ ask _?_ " Batman growled back, effectively cutting off all communication on that line of the comms. Wally and Barry shared a look at Batman's tone, but they didn't have a chance to do more before Darkseid was sending more Omega beams at them.

Sighing, the two raced off, deadly beams following after them. Thinking back to his former move, Wally kicked his speed back up as high as he could make it and ran through the battlefield, taking out as many enemy soldiers as he could. He was pretty sure that some of the people on his side were getting splattered with alien guts which wasn't the greatest, but there wasn't much he could do about that, honestly. Better splashed with others' guts and have your own guts splashed onto others. Or something like that. At least he was thinning their ranks a little bit.

Then, the beams were gone, and Wally went back to the main fight with Darkseid. He shot his beams, and Wally ran. Wally took out enemies, went back to the fight, saw Darkseid shoot his beams, and ran. And then again. And again. And again. And again.

He was panting his way back to the battle when the threw out in the headset, "I know you guys are working… really hard on getting that eye taken out, but I can't… do that many more times. I have… maybe… two more left in me."

Barry panted into the comms, " _Same_."

Batman growled which Wally felt was a bit rude. Wally and Barry didn't growl at him for not taking out one singular eye, so why should he growl at them when they're taking out half the army?

He was panting too hard to ask.

When he finally made it back to Darkseid, though, he got what he was wishing for. He watched as Diana (when did she get there?) shoved her sword down to the hilt through Darkseid's eye.

Koriand'r asked into the comms, " _What do we do now?_ "

There was an intake of breath when someone prepared to answer, but before anyone could, Darkseid _moved_.

They'd known that Darkseid could move fast. They hadn't known he could move _that_ fast. Anyone who wasn't a speedster or Superman saw nothing but a blur, but the three that could actually process Darkseid's movements saw him run towards them, swinging two glowing red arms up into the air before _smashing_ them into the ground.

The shockwave was unreal.

Almost every person on the battlefield lost their feet. Superman swept to the ground in front of Barry and Wally, letting the shockwave move harmlessly around him. Some of the fliers who had been closer to the ground were knocked out, hit by the shockwave and then sent falling towards the ground. Wally could see Lorraine's fire going out around her and his heart wrenched at the sight. She was so, so, so vulnerable when her powers weren't activated. Thankfully, he saw Rocket lowering her bubble down to grab Lorraine and carry her off.

Unfortunately, Darkseid's soldiers were much quicker to get back on their feet than Earth's soldiers. They were probably used to it. That didn't help, though, when it meant that the (admittedly much, much smaller after Wally and Barry's work) enemy army was already attacking the good guys before they'd even been able to stand.

Wally wanted to rush out and help them, but he couldn't. Koriand'r and Batman weren't moving and Kaldur was cradling an obviously broken arm, so Clark, Barry, and Wally were the only ones left on the main attack team to take out Darkseid. It was him they needed to focus on. They needed to trust the ones they loved to take care of the rest.

Clark asked them quietly, "Ready?"

"No," Barry answered, sighing, "But yes."

"Same," Wally answered, quirking a lip up at Clark's eyeroll.

"Alright," Clark said, still murmuring quietly, "We need to knock him out."

"You're the only one with the strength to do that," Barry responded, eyeing Darkseid warily as the alien starts stomping towards them.

Clark frowned, "Then you guys keep him distracted. Trip him up, run away, hit him where he's not expecting it. Do whatever you can. I'll keep him off-balanced from the top. If we can get him to trip or if we can knock him over, then I can knock him out."

"Got it," Barry and Wally respond at the same time, causing them to give each other surprised grins. Clark rolled his eyes again.

And then there was no more time for talking because Darkseid had started to veer off course, wavering blindly towards the only source of noise – the battles of the others. Clark swings around to the side of him and _punches_ him hard enough to send the massive alien stumbling hard back into the area they want him to be.

Wally starts punching Darkseid's legs. Sure, they were probably the equivalent of little ant bites, but they were annoying while he was trying to fight a big player like Superman. Then Barry started doing the same thing from the other side and Darkseid _lost it_.

He bellowed out in rage, kicking and swatting and generally looking like a massive toddler that lost his toy. Wally grinned and increased the speed of his punches. Barry called out, " _Watch out, Wally!_ "

Wally was moving out of the way before he'd even consciously recognized what was happening, but then he saw Barry leap out of the circle he'd been running in, an enormous bolt of lightning clenched in his hand like a deadly spear. Barry threw the lightning spear at Darkseid with as much force as he could, causing Darkseid to twitch and stumble, falling solidly onto one knee.

Clark delivered one last, solid uppercut and Darkseid fell, slamming into the dirt. Clark flew to just above his face and lifted one hand to start punching. But Darkseid moved faster. Wally didn't even see what he _did_ , but next thing he knew, one of Darkseid's ships had barreled into Superman, landing directly on him almost two miles away. Barry and Wally gaped at the sight. Wally gaped even more when Superman didn't come out.

If Clark was down, then… how were they supposed to do this?

Barry got ahold of himself first, clenching his jaw and shouting, "We need to create an air funnel! Take away his oxygen!"

"Does he need oxygen?" Wally cried back, "He's an alien! He takes over a lot of planets! I doubt all of them have oxygen in their atmosphere!"

"Do you have a better plan?" Barry asks, not unkindly. He was just as stressed as Wally was.

Sighing, Wally realized that he _didn't_ have a better plan. His only option was to go along with what Barry said. Besides, it might work. It had more of a chance than whatever they had been doing before. Together, the two of them ran in a tight circle around Darkseid. It wasn't their top speed – not even close. Partially, that was because Barry was trying to keep close to Wally. Partially, though, it was because they'd done _a lot_ of running that day and no amount of endurance training really prepared a person for that.

The circle got tighter and tighter as an air funnel began to rise above them, tearing at Wally's breath and ruffling his hair. Darkseid _did_ seem to be slowing down. Maybe this was actually working!

Or maybe Wally got his hopes up too soon.

Darkseid flung an arm out, smacking Barry hard enough to send him bouncing up and down, over and over again into the ground. Wally heard something break. Wally heard _multiple_ things break. He felt sick.

And suddenly, just like that, it was only him standing there, facing Darkseid. This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. A quick scan revealed that none of the other leaders were going to be getting up anytime soon. No one in the surrounding area had noticed that Wally was alone, facing the biggest bad in the known universe. Wally wasn't ready for this. He _wasn't_. After everything he'd faced in his life, he was going to die like this, facing down an ugly, blind alien.

Just as suddenly, he wasn't alone. Jinx stumbled into the open area around Wally and Darkseid, her eyes a little wild and her breath a little shaky. Wally felt his breath lock in his as Darkseid turned his lumbering gait towards Jinx. She froze on the spots, hands held loosely in front of her chest as if she wasn't sure what to do.

Then she unfroze and snarled, pink globes enveloping her hands. Debris from the spaceship and from the fights rose in pink halos around her. She looked like a goddess like that, eyes glowing, skin and hair ethereal colors, halo-ed objects bowing to her whims, a battle raging in the background. The image only grew when she forced her hands forward and the objects around her raced to do her biddings, launching themselves at Darkseid.

He couldn't see them, but he must have heard them, the horrible creaking groan of an epic battle's worth of debris. Darkseid forced a hand up, stopping as many as he could. He was too weak, too blind to stop all of them, though. Some still streaked across his exposed limbs and face, cutting the shallowest of lines in his grey-red skin. It obviously doesn't do anything to affect him; he's too powerful. But it does send him into a proper rage.

Wally was still too shell-shocked by the idea of standing up to Darkseid alone. He was still too frightened at the idea of _Jinx_ fighting Darkseid at all. He was still, always, _always_ , too slow.

Darkseid crashed his fist into Jinx's body _nanoseconds_ before Wally arrived.

Jinx crumpled.

Blood shot out from her still body and pooled around her.

It dripped off of Darkseid's closed fist.

Wally saw red.

In the end, all Wally can clearly remember is the feeling of lightning enveloping him. The lightning that had been trapped in his veins, piling up and building and expanding and writhing against the underside of his skin since the moment he'd gotten his powers, exploded outward. It might have taken a piece of him with it, but he hardly noticed. He didn't _control_ the lightning. He _was_ the lightning.

There were arcs of it, launching out of him and spiraling deep into the earth. It wrapped around his skin, making him glow with the feeling of it, with the sight. The red faded from his vision as brilliant, shocking clarity filled it instead. He could _see_ the way the lightning saw. He could _feel_ the way the lightning felt. There was no purer form of lightning than the one he was embodying at that moment.

His gaze lit on Jinx's prone form; her expression trapped in one of pained terror. He felt his fury rise again, the lightning arcing out of him intensifying.

When he moved, it was with the all the speed in the world. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. The entire world was frozen, endlessly trapped in the tableau that Wally chose. The power it provided was dizzying.

Wally didn't care.

What he did care about was the _monster_ standing over one of Wally's loved ones, the monster who had _hurt_ Wally's loved ones.

A single step, a single moment, a single _thought_ later, he was across the clearing, standing directly next to Darkseid. When he reared back and punched him in the stomach, it sent the alien flying several yards away, crashing to the ground. He didn't get up.

Wally moved again – a step, a moment, a _thought_ , arrival – and towered over Darkseid, fury still lighting his veins, filling his world. He could end Darkseid like this. It probably wouldn't even take more than a single tap to the face. Darkseid's reign of terror would be over. The hurt Wally's loved ones had experienced in this battle would be avenged.

It wouldn't make up for the years that metahumans spent suffering because Savage thought that was the only way to defeat Darkseid. It wouldn't make up for the horror the planets already under Darkseid's control had gone through.

Wally didn't care.

But it was when he was poised there, hand raised above Darkseid's face, that he thought, unwillingly, randomly, about the Team. What would they think? What would _Barry_ and _Iris_ think? Wally was about to kill an alien in cold blood. The alien was unconscious, now. The heroes were certain that they would be able to transfer him to a secure holding cell on a planet called Oa or something in the time he was unconscious.

Slowly, carefully, Wally lowered his fist. He dropped to his knees, suspended in that glorious lightning. He couldn't do it. He was a _coward_. He was _weak_ -

No.

No, that wasn't true, was it?

Wally knew better than that. He'd _learned_ to know better than that. Heroes didn't kill. It was what kept them heroes.

It wasn't that Wally was a coward or that he was weak. It was that, somehow, over the days and months he'd known the Team, he'd become… a _hero_.

Wally made sure Darkseid was unconscious and then he just – let go.

Time slipped back into its normal stream around him even as he continued to spark and glow. The lightning must have been more noticeable than he thought (or maybe it was the way that Darkseid was laid out on his back, still and unmoving. Or maybe it was both) because the battles around him slowed and then stopped. Darkseid's people surrendered, then and there. Their eyes were dark and serious on Darkseid's fallen form as they allowed themselves to be taken into custody.

It took a moment, bright-sharp flickering lightning bursts crackling in tandem to his heart beat, but it eventually sunk in that they'd won. They had won.

He needed to check on Jinx and Lorraine and the others. He needed to see if the rest of his attack team was alright. He needed to make sure that no one had problems with the prisoners. He needed –

Wally fell into unconsciousness with the same relief he'd fallen into the lightning.

 **Author's Note: So, I wasn't quite feeling the beginning of this chapter, but I quite liked the end, actually. I hope you guys do too! Thanks for reading!**


	64. Chapter 64

**Author's Note: This is the second to last chapter! Next week will be the epilogue! We're almost done, guys! You guys have been the best! Alright, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – The end is very near. Thanks for the review!**

WWWWWW

Wally drifted slowly into awareness. He didn't know how long he'd been asleep (unconscious). It took a long, long moment to process the situation he was in. His lightning pressed against the inside of his skin like a self-satisfied cat. What on earth would cause it to do that?

The battle came back to him in jagged lightning-bright images, the faintest feeling of freedom tinging the edges with something unattainable. Wally's fingers twitched as got a shining image of Jinx, laid out in her own blood. He needed to get to her. His fingers twitched again when he remembered Uncle Barry's high-speed collisions with the ground. Clark's loss against a spaceship. He… he didn't need to help anymore. He'd done everything he could do. The battles had finished around him.

Still, though, he wanted to check on them. He wanted to check on all of his people. He just – couldn't. His limbs were locked tight, sore and aching. Wally must have been laying there for a while if he was feeling this painful, itchy soreness already. This was the horrible burn of muscles that were worked way past the point where he should have stopped. He'd really run too much. The only reason he hadn't noticed it then was because he'd been so filled with adrenalin and fear. Now? There was nothing but the painful bursts of aching muscles to keep him company.

Which… didn't make sense. Where were the others? Wally knew he wasn't exactly the most important nor the most injured person on the field, but he would have hoped that _someone_ would have come to check him out as he was lying unconscious on the field. Why was he still there, grass tickling against his cheek? Were the others alright? What was going on?

Breath speeding up, Wally forced himself to move. He didn't have to move much. He just had to move _something_. Whatever it took to figure out what was going on. Wincing, Wally let out a breathless gasp as he finally managed to shift his head to the side and slightly up. He could only keep it up for a few seconds, but it was long enough to get a picture of what was going on.

Whatever he'd done with the lightning in his veins and all that running had momentarily _ruined_ whatever control he'd managed to get over his powers in the years he'd had them. Time was flipping in and out of flux around him, speeding up and slowing down in random measures. He must have been sitting there, unconscious, in relative time for _hours_ before he'd woken up, but the people around him were still running towards him, to check on him. Even in the few seconds he'd been able to lift his head, he'd seen them go from standing still to barely moving, to normal speed, to barely moving again. He needed to get his powers under control _stat_.

Wally closed his eyes, slowing his breathing and focusing on time. He breathed deeply for a few moments, physically feeling the change in the air as time went back to its normal state.

When he opened his eyes again, Cameron was standing over him, a worried looking Artemis hovering behind him, constantly shifting her eyes towards something behind her. Wally blinked slowly at Cameron. Cameron's lips twisted into a frown and he gently placed a hand at Wally's neck, feeling for a pulse. Wally twitched a finger in an attempt to swat his hand away, "I blinked. You know I'm 'live. Don't… poke me." Speaking took about as much energy as Wally figured climbing Mount Everest took.

Cameron scowled worriedly, "You were moving so slow, I was worried. After your lightning show that last all of two seconds, you collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. I was a little worried your speed wasn't working properly. Now that I know you're just being obnoxious, can you tell me if you're hurt anywhere?"

Wally tried to surge upward at the reminder, flopping back to the ground in pain when it didn't work, "Jinx? She 'right? L'rraine? Every… else? You?" His jaw was largely unresponsive, tired and sore and resistant to movement.

Cameron's scowl only grew, "We're all fine. Well. As fine as we can be after a battle like that. Jinx is living and looking to make a full recovery. Lorraine is alive, mostly uninjured. We're going to get her to Dr. Thompkins to make sure that fall didn't mess with any of her healing. There are only minor injuries for the rest of us. How about you, fearless leader?"

"M'fine. Sore. Lotsa running. Lightning. Stuff," Wally forced out, already feeling himself start to drift again.

Smoothing a hand over Wally's forehead, Cameron ran a weathered eye over Wally's suit even as he snorted, "Yeah, okay. Can you walk at all? We've got to scram before the Argus agents figure out that we've really, for real won. Well, I think Flag knows what's happening, but he's 'accidentally' letting us all escape. But that's only going to last so long. We've got to get back to HQ as soon as possible, yeah?"

Wally blinked slowly at him again, "Can't, sorry."

"That's fine," Cameron said softly. He carefully leaned over and gently started to pick Wally up. Artemis stood facing outwards, bow held lightly in her grasp, an obvious threat. Although the pain of being lifted when he was so sore and in so much pain was agonizing, Wally felt himself drift back into sleep, comforted by the soothing press of Cameron's ice and the watchful gaze of Artemis on their escape route.

When he woke up again, he was in considerably less pain and in a much more familiar and liked place. Wally yawned, lifting one tired hand up to rub at his eyes, closing them momentarily against the harsh light of the Team's infirmary. He yawned again, jaw cracking.

Apparently, that was what it took to get him noticed because a veritable storm of teammates came crashing down on him.

Two Titans were bedbound, Lorraine was in her wheelchair, and Jinx was laying, pale and tired but awake, in her own bed, but other than that, all the others on their three teams gathered around Wally, excitedly jabbering at him. Unwillingly, a smile tugged its way into existence.

Artemis scowled at him, "I hate that you're lucky enough to have such quick healing. It's not fair. I want it."

Roy snorted, "They said it was a miracle you didn't tear every muscle you had with how much you abused them doing all that running. The doctors didn't have a thing to say about whatever you did with that lightning. They've got zero clue. Flash said he'd check it out once he was up, but he's just as sore as you are, so he's going to rest for another day, probably. His broken bones were all healed within 32 hours which, as Artemis pointed out, is not fair."

"Healed within 32 hours?" Wally asked, wincing at how rough his voice was.

"You've been asleep for just over two days," Kaldur explained kindly, "We would have been more worried, but the fact that you woke up on your own long enough to talk with Icicle was a good sign."

Wally nodded in response, too tired to really do much more. His lips turned down in thought, "What now?"

Cameron groaned, loud and overdramatic, "C'mon, man! You just woke up. Take a chill pill. Calm down. We don't need to worry about all that yet." Wally glared at him.

Kaldur, thankfully, answered, "For now, we heal. After that, however, a few government officials that we worked with wanted to speak with us about the state of metahumans and their treatment. And Savage's role in all of that. It will, hopefully, be the start to the freedom that you deserve. They are waiting until all of the leaders are healed enough to go to the meeting, however. We are currently waiting for you and Flash to be given the clean bill of health, as they say."

Wally breathed out a relieved breath. Wow. That was… that was fantastic. That was better news than Wally had been hoping for. His eyes narrowed as another question came to him, "Did we lose anyone?"

"There were three deaths from the various militaries, two deaths of Alliance people, and… five deaths of New Holo City people," Kaldur informed him, obviously regretting what he had to say.

Wally felt his breath catch in his throat, "Right, okay. Which ones?" Hearing their names didn't help free that breath. It only made the ache in his chest worsen. Four of them had been children, younger than him. They'd only just gotten free from the camps and they… They were dead now. Wally should have been faster. He was never fast enough.

Taking a shuddering breath, Wally slammed his eyes closed and got ahold of himself. He did _not_ need to think that way. This wasn't his fault. It wasn't. He was still going to feel guilty about it, but it _wasn't_ his fault. It was okay. He was okay. He'd have to talk to his people soon, get an understanding of how they were feeling. He looked up at Kaldur, "Where are my people? Are they back in the city?"

"Yes," Kaldur answered, sympathy still painted across his face.

Roy, however, couldn't seem to help an incredulous snort from slipping out, " _Your_ people?"

Wally raised an eyebrow. Alright, he would play this game. They had just won a major battle. He wouldn't forget the ones they lost, but he also wouldn't let their deaths be useless. They died so the rest of them could win that battle. They should _celebrate_ that win. So, Wally simply responded, "I founded the city, built a large portion of the original one myself, control the finances, am the general problem solver, control who is let in, and am the one who makes the final call on all laws passed. Sounds like my people, my city to me."

Cyborg gaped at him, "Have you had some secret city the whole time we've known you?"

"Loren must have told you about the amount of money he was donating. He must have had suspicions about why I had so much money. The only benefactor that actually knew about the city was Max and that's because he was the only meta. Well, the Rogues have metas on their team, but they were good where they were," Wally answered. Cyborg just continued gaping at him.

Robin piped up from the chair he'd taken, wincing and clutching at his ribs, "Will those people stay in the city even after all this is figured out? Would that even be legal?"

Wally wrinkled his nose, "I mean, we acquired the land legally, so we should be fine. Well, okay, that's not true. Our laws match up with the country's laws, but not _exactly_ , so… it'll be interesting."

"Maybe you can get the city declared its own country," Dinah suggested with amusement, "Then you're really have your own people."

Wally rolled his eyes, "I literally cannot handle being an actual leader of an actual country. But… I guess I wouldn't mind that much. It would be nice to have that place just set up and away where metas can go." He smiled a little bit at the thought of it. If they were their own country, then they could just keep on existing, no problem. They'd have the shields from Gorilla City up even if they were declared legal, just to keep them safer. Even if people had the coordinates, it would be hard to get into the city. But they wouldn't have to sneak into nearby cities to get the necessary supplies to keep them alive. It would be a much more peaceful solution. And Wally couldn't really see the Canadian government being _too_ offended by it. There was a reason they settled in Canada in the first place. Would the Canadian government be represented at the upcoming meeting? He could find a way to ask and start figuring things out if that was the case…

The group was smiling indulgently at him when he came out of his musings. Wally scowled back. They laughed, heads thrown back, expressions open and bright. Wally felt a good part of him settle at the sight. All he'd really wanted was to make sure that everyone was alright. Knowing that they were alright and together and still _happy_ was more than he could have ever asked for. It made _him_ happy.

As the group broke off into whisperings and Wally and Jinx stopped making admittedly soppy expressions at each other, Cameron came over and sat beside Wally on the bed, "You're getting sappy in your old age."

"You're one to talk," Wally said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but I wasn't as much of a grouch as you used to be," Cameron said.

Wally smiled, ducking his head a little bit, "Careful. Push me too much and I might turn right back into that grouch."

Cameron laughed, "I'm serious! This is literally the happiest I've ever seen you. Even at the beginning of our time at the camps, you weren't this happy. I mean, obviously you were shell-shocked the first time we met. I mean, you were still in a hospital gown for goodness sake. But afterwards, once we got used to the camp, people were generally pretty happy, despite what we were going through. But you were always kind of sad, even then. You were a lot more reserved. I know your parents weren't, ah, exactly nurturing."

Wally raised an eyebrow again, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Giving him a serious look, Cameron scooted closer, "You know exactly what that means. Your parents were, from everything you've told me about them, at the _very least_ borderline neglectful. But that doesn't matter. You're here, now. And you're so happy. Open in a way I've never seen."

"Something good comes out of everything if you wait long enough," Wally said in response, not sure what else he could get through the lump in his throat. He finally managed to say, "You can't tell me that the same thing doesn't apply to you. We both know that most of the bruises you came to camp with weren't from the guards. You had a pretty trash parent, too. Or, well, not _too_. Mine were – fine. But, anyways, you're happier now, too. We've found our family, the one we were meant to be with. That's what I think, anyways. And we'll always have each other, no matter how all of this turns out. If we have to go on the run together, we'll go on the run together. If we have to go to jail, we'll bargain for a situation where we can all visit each other. We'll at least write and call. If we end up free and we all go our separate ways, back home, then we'll meet up all the time. We'll never be truly apart. No one can break this."

Cameron gave him a watery smile, "I'm glad we were on the same bus that day. If we had to go to the camps, then I'm glad we went together. You're my best friend, Walls."

"And you're mine, Cam. Never forget that," Wally said with an answering smile.

Jinx and Artemis clearing their throats jerked the two from their moment. Artemis arched both eyebrows at them, "You two done chatting it up over there? Want to pay attention to their girlfriends?"

"Needy much?" Wally asked tartly, tacking on at the end, "Not you, Jinx, of course. You deserve everything and I always love giving you attention." He sent her a beatific smile at the end and she laughed, eyes crinkling with mischief.

Artemis literally growled at him, "I'll _show_ you needy!"

Dinah called from the other side of the room, "Please don't hurt our leader further. He's already injured enough."

Artemis growled again and yanked Cameron off the bed, dragging him away. Jinx grinned at them from where she was in a wheelchair. She wheeled it closer, only wincing a little bit. Wally let a hand dangle off the bed for her to grab when she got close enough, "How are you doing? What's the damage?"

She shrugged a little bit, wincing at even that, "A lot of broken ribs. A _lot_. One of them punctured a lung or something and hit something else. There was a rib sticking out of my side or something like that. Broken collarbone. Both my shoulders were dislocated. Broken arm. Broken wrist. Sprained the other wrist. A lot of broken fingers. He basically just hit and crushed my chest area without hitting me hard enough to, like, kill me. If I behave, I shouldn't have any complications. But its wheelchair bound for a long time if I feel the need to get out of bed, which I do. Everything from here on out is just convincing people to change, though. Hopefully. It'll be bad if we need to make a quick escape, but we should be good. I believe that."

Wally smiled at dopey grin at her, pleased at her thoughts on the matter. It was only a handful of months ago that she'd temporarily allied herself with the Light because she was so distrustful of the heroes. She rolled her eyes at him and started playing lightly with his fingers, her own fingers too messed up to hold his for long.

"We won," Wally whispered, locking eyes with her. He smiled and whispered again, "We won."

"No more Light. No more anti-meta, anti-hero psycho strengthening programs," Jinx whispered back, laying her head back against her wheelchair.

Wally smiled one more time, brighter than before, "We're going to be free."

KKKKKK

Kaldur shifted awkwardly in his seat. The meeting had expanded to include a rather large number of people. A _large_ number of people. The leaders of each of the five groups and their seconds – Bruce and Clark, Wally and Cameron, Barry and Patrick, Starfire and Raven, and Kaldur himself alongside Dick. In addition to that, however, were representatives of the other two people of earth – Diana brought Troia and Wonder Girl and Arthur sat with Tula on one side of him and Garth on the other. The other side of the table held representatives for the governments who were most actively considering changing their stance on metahumans – eight nations that were moved enough by the metas to consider this – and the highest ranking military office who fought in the battle against Darkseid. Kaldur was sure there would be more, but there were only so many countries that they had been able to convince to join the fight against Darkseid. It was those countries who interacted with the metas and realized that their policies needed to be revisited.

Still, for all that the countries realized that they were wrong, they were battling upwards of ten years of prejudice. Honestly, Kaldur was more than impressed with Wally, Cameron, Barry, and Patrick. They were so polite and unfazed by everything that the ambassadors threw at them. Every question, every accusation, every misunderstanding, every stereotype was met with the same calm, collected, understanding tone.

It wasn't until that moment that it really hit Kaldur how much they must have prepared for this. How many times had they quizzed each other on possible questions they could be asked? How many times had they spent idle moments mentally drafting arguments and counterarguments? How much did the two kids have to learn about how the governments of the world work to be able to make these plans? Kaldur often forgot that the two of them were taken out of school when they were still elementary school students. How much have they had to teach themselves? Did the older metahumans in the camps teach them things? Did they take turns showing the kids of the barracks how to do different normal things?

Once again, Kaldur's heart broke at the thought of what these metahumans went through.

There were many moments during the meeting where Kaldur wanted to show the ambassadors the months that he had spent with the Circus. He wanted to show them what these people were like, what they had suffered. He wanted the ambassadors to spend an hour in the camps like he did, wanted them to see what it feels like to be treated like nothing, to be manhandled and ignored and dehumanized in some of the cruelest ways. He felt certain that there were no leaders in the world who would keep their prejudiced laws if they experienced that.

Still, even after only a month of association, the ambassadors were willing to make a lot of changes. The camps and anything like them in any of the countries were completely abolished. Religious groups and charity groups all over the world were willing to follow the plans that the Alliance and Circus had drafted for reintegrating metahumans into society. It was a thorough plan and the ambassadors had only added to the program, suggesting steps and solutions.

All in all, Kaldur felt awkward in his uselessness. It felt as if the heroes were no more than character witnesses. Occasionally, they could offer insight and suggestions, but the conversation was mainly between the ambassadors and the metas. Kaldur could tell that the military officials felt as awkward and out of place as he did. Occasionally, he would make eye contact with Flag and they would share a commiserating grimace.

The meeting was almost drawing to a close (seven hours after it started) when two of the most problematic issues were brought up. It was the Canadian ambassador who brought up the first one, "I was led to believe by one of your metas, Supersonic, that your city was somewhere in Canada. Is that correct?"

For the first time, Wally hesitated, his mouth tightening the slightest bit and his back straightening, "I won't give more information than that, but yes. _At the moment_ , the city is located in Canada."

The Canadian ambassador raised his hands in a sign of peace, "I didn't mean that as a threat. I merely wanted to be sure before I offered this. We would be willing to accept the city as an official city of Canada. Your name for the city can stay, but you would receive the usual financial and governmental support that our cities receive."

Wally clenched his hand over his leg, "They would also have to pay taxes and change their governmental system, neither of which are possibilities I will accept. My city doesn't use money within the city. It's a community-based system just because no one there _has_ money. The money my benefactors give me to keep the city going is used on runs to nearby cities, never in the actual city itself. Beyond that, they're already emotionally unstable enough as it is, having recently moved and having to deal with all of this Light and Darkseid stuff. They were kidnapped by the Light just two months ago. They made their governmental decisions and chose their laws together and I won't let them lose that. They also don't feel comfortable around humans, not yet. I won't compromise that. I'm going to make sure that the city remains entirely metahuman. It's a place of healing for them."

Steepling his hands, the ambassador leaned forward slightly, "How different are the laws and government structure in your city?"

"Not very," Wally said cautiously, "The government system is pretty similar, other than the fact that only the really big decisions have to go through me. I mean, they often send me all the city ordinances and laws and structure changes just to keep me updated and I'm allowed to argue with any one of them, but I've yet to find one that I disagree with."

The ambassador nodded, "What if we let you keep your governmental system and keep your closed gates, so to say, as long as you become a territory of Canada? You would, eventually, need to pay taxes, but that can be arranged for a long-term deal. We would financially support you and you can keep as much of your benefactors' support as you like. We would ask that you introduce money and outside trade to the city so we can benefit from its presence. I hate to be crude like that, but we cannot support a city without some recompense. It's just not feasible."

"We own the land already," Wally said, fingers still tapping a tune against his leg, "It doesn't hurt you to leave us alone."

"But it could help us to help you," the ambassador pointed out reasonably. The other countries were watching with avid interest. Kaldur had no doubt that at least two of them would be willing to offer their own countries as a new location for New Holo City with a better deal if Wally couldn't work something out with Canada.

Wally's fingers stopped tapping at his leg and he stared for a moment, entirely still. Cameron looked up at him, seemingly confident that Wally was going to make the right decision. Eventually, Wally gave the Canadian ambassador a rueful smile, "Sounds good to me. We'll have to get it in writing. I'll get people to look it over for sure, make sure that it's acceptable to everyone. But, tentatively, it sounds good."

"Fantastic," the ambassador said, leaning back into his seat with a smile. Wally sent him a tentative smile back.

It was Flag that brought up the final hot-button topic, "I hate to bring this up, especially after seven hours of very good conversation and teamwork, but Waller made sure I knew to bring this up. Legally, even if you pardon people for committing 'crimes' that went against some of the anti-meta laws, the Circus and the Teen Titans are still wanted in several countries for a good number of crimes, _including_ the United States and Canada. Even if the eight countries represented here pardoned them – or, at least, the ones that have warrants for their arrests, - they would still be international criminals. The Alliance likely would be as well if anyone actually knew what they've done. How will we address that?"

Wally's lips tightened again, fingers twitching against his thigh. The temperature near Cameron dropped momentarily before shooting back up to regular temperature. Starfire lifted her chin, worry shining in her eyes. Raven huddled into herself, seemingly attempting to merge with the shadows. The tension in the room skyrocketed.

The Columbian ambassador leaned over to look at Flag, "I don't see why we can't just give them community service."

"Some of them have murder charges to their names and you want to give them community service," the Russian ambassador mused. Wally flinched almost imperceptibly.

The Columbian ambassador shrugged, "From what I've seen? From what I've heard? It was self-defense. They saved a lot of people doing what they did. And, yeah, they cannot continue to do that once they are in the public spotlight, but community service should be good enough. If they spent time aiding in the reintegration of metas, in whatever other program we need them to work with, I don't see why that's a problem. They were saving people with their actions."

Flag frowned, "What, exactly, are you expecting them to be doing after all this? You say that they should volunteer with the reintegration programs, but… will they not be doing their own reintegration? I don't know a lot about you two personally, but I know that you aren't adults yet. You've been out for two years now. How long were you in the camps? One year? Two?"

"Six," Wally answered, ignoring the answering flinch from all the members of the group who hadn't known.

Flag's eyes widened and he gaped, momentarily losing sight of what he was going to say. He shook his head and got back on track, " _Six_. That's eight years since you've been in regular society. If you're not adults yet, then that means you weren't even in double digits when you were taken to the camps. Which means that you are part of main target group for reintegration. You need remedial schooling, life skills, specialist therapist, presumably family therapy. If there's family out there for you. They need to be _in_ the reintegration programs, not volunteering with them."

"Then let them be heroes as their community service," Clark suggested. The whole group turned to him, startled. Wally and Cameron especially were gaping.

"I'm assuming that this community service discussion extends to the Teen Titans as well. Many of their members are already well-entrenched with heroes. They've spent almost three months living with the Team. The Circus has spent a year or so living with the Team. They are well accepted and well appreciated by the superhero community. It would be our honor to take them in. That goes to the Alliance members as well. There is no need for a metahuman underground, after all," Clark mused. His eyes were wide and blue and trusting. Kaldur felt his heart leap at the thought. Could the others really become heroes?

"What if there are members that don't want to become heroes?" Barry asked cautiously, "The Alliance doesn't have any warrants against us after you drop the charges from the anti-meta laws, but just thinking about some of the other groups. What happens if they want to live a normal life? Being a hero is a big commitment. It's… it could very well be a death sentence."

"Then they would have to go to jail," the American ambassador shrugged, "I'm sorry to be so blunt, but I honestly don't see another way around it. The only community service that would be worth their crimes would be working with the reintegration programs, but we've established that they _need_ the reintegration programs. Hero-ing is the only other legitimate solution. Of course, some of the non-metas could choose to help in the reintegration programs instead. They won't need them. But other than that… I don't have any other solution to offer you. I'm sorry."

"No, I understand," Barry said, "I'm just making sure that everyone knows all of their options."

Wally spoke up, lips twisted down, "This only makes up for some of our arrest warrants. I know I've got some for countries that aren't represented here. What do we do about those warrants?"

Patrick squinted, "Diplomatic immunity?"

Wally frowned, "What?"

Patrick shrugged, "I mean, based on that deal you made – tentatively made, don't glare at me like that – with Canada, you're basically the king or whatever of a little country that's under Canada's overall rule. So, you could be considered royalty or whatever. I don't know how your government works. But just make the rest of the Circus ambassadors and they'll get diplomatic immunity."

"I'm afraid it does not work that way," the South African ambassador said, eyebrows raised slightly judgmentally. Patrick shrugged.

King Arthur suggested, "You could go to them and ask forgiveness. You could plead your case with each one. How many countries not represented here have arrest warrants out for you or one of your people?"

Wally squinted and looked around, "Three. I think."

"Oh," Barry said, "That's less than I thought."

Wally scowled at him, "What did you think I had been doing the whole time I was out of the camps? Breaking a law in a new country each week? We _tried_ to do things as legally as we could while our very existence was illegal. Which brings up my main concern, by the way. Yes, I could go to these other countries and ask for forgiveness, which I would be willing to do. But what's to stop them from arresting me? They aren't changing their laws. Or, if they are, they aren't discussing it with us like you are. They would be well within their rights to imprison us right there."

"Which countries are we talking about here?" the Columbian ambassador asked.

Wally counted them off on his fingers, "Vlatava, Qurac, and Italy."

"And you?" the Columbian ambassador asked Starfire.

She startled slightly at being addressed but recovered quickly, "Only Japan. We, uh, had an _interesting_ experience there. Otherwise, we mainly stayed in the United States. The other countries we have warrants in are represented here."

"Okay," the ambassador continued, "That's four different countries. I'm sure we can work something out with four countries to at least give them a chance to hear you out. I'm certain that Queen Perdita of Vlatava would be willing to listen to you at the very least. She has had good dealings with the Justice League and her soldiers must have reported only good things back to her after the Darkseid incident. Besides, she's always been light on metas compared to other countries."

"I am certain that the leader of Qurac would be willing to rethink his stance after we saved him earlier in our partnership," Kaldur added, feeling like he needed to add _something_ to the conversation.

"So, those should be easy, simple. We can worry about Japan and Italy after those," the Columbian ambassador said.

Wally glanced over at Cameron. They flicked little symbols at each other under the chair. Wally looked back at the people spread out in front of him, "So, to be clear, you are saying that all we would need to do is be a superhero? What are the other stipulations? And what about our identities? Heroes keep their identities secret for a reason."

The Columbian ambassador frowned, "Without knowing your identities, we cannot prove that you are serving community service. Of course, some of you are rather particular and it would be easy to see if you were not there, but others… Who is to say there are not more speedsters out there that would take your place? I know that sounds unlikely, but you did commit crimes and we need to know you are serving _some_ sort of recompense for them."

Diana spoke up then, "We know the identities of all of the Circus members and most of the Teen Titans. I am sure that the rest of the Teen Titans would be willing to give their identities up to the Justice League if it meant not going to jail. You can trust that we know who they are and will be able to keep them on track."

The Russian ambassador winced even as she said, "Forgive me, but you were not able to keep your own people on track. Garth of Atlantis, Wonder Girl – now Troia of Themyscira, and Starfire who was shown counsel by Martian Manhunter all sit in this room as international terrorists. That does not even include the other members of the Teen Titans. They worked like this for two, three years before you even knew what was happening. I do not aim to point blame; I am merely suggesting that some people might not trust that arrangement."

"What else would you have us do?" Clark asked, spreading his hands out in askance, "The least these kids deserve is anonymity after everything they've gone through, after everyone they've saved."

Wally sighed before suggesting, "This isn't a fix for both teams and I'm not sure how everyone would feel about this, but… I would be willing to add a clause into my agreement with Canada where the new meta policing organization or whoever will be working with my city directly would know the identity of the Circus members. It would probably make more sense anyways if we're going to be working together that closely. But that doesn't provide a solution for the Titans, sorry."

Starfire tilted her head to the side, "It could. You have listed us as allies of your city, correct? As not all of us are metahumans, we cannot all go live there, but we have made friends and you've started to consider allowing visitations. I would be willing to give my team's identities to the same person you give yours to. As we are, partially, a part of the city as well."

The Australian ambassador frowned, "I have no problem with you guys telling the Canadians your identity and letting them police you or check up on you or whatever, but it seems a little roundabout, yeah? I had been under the assumption that you would be hero-ing with the Justice League or their covert ops team, which would mean most of your actions would take place in America. Seems a little strange that you'd report to Canada."

Wally shrugged, "I know it's not the simplest, cleanest method, but the fact of the matter is that my team and I, despite knowing the changes that are being made, aren't exactly the biggest fans of the American government at the moment. We're working on that, of course, and we trust you to shake off Savage's influences, but it's going to take time before we can trust that information to you. I'm sorry. Besides, even if some of you might question the Justice League's ability to keep track of teenage heroes, they'll be there to watch out for us. They will still be a guiding force for us in America." The Australian ambassador nodded, satisfied, even as the American ambassador winced from his seat.

Clark stood, "Are there any other points to be made or questions to be asked?" Everyone shook their heads, smiling tentatively at each other. Clark nodded, "Then I call this meeting to an end. Thank you, all of you, for being here today and being brave enough to have this conversation. The memory of this meeting will stay with me for a long time."

People dispersed quickly after that, many of the ambassadors already making phone calls to start to make the conversations they'd had that day into reality. Kaldur watched as the Canadian ambassador set up a meeting time with both the Circus and the Teen Titans to discuss the city and their identities.

Once that was over, Kaldur moved over to where Wally had tiredly collapsed into a seat, Cameron hovering behind him. He smiled at Wally, "Tired?"

Wally groaned, "First of all, you can't tell me that you aren't all tired because that was exhausting. Second of all, yes, absolutely I'm tired. Whatever that weird lightning thing I did was, it took a lot of my energy with it. I'm still getting it back. Did you know that Dr. Thompkins tried to force an IV stand with me? No way. Nuh uh. Never again. I was not going to come to this important meeting with an IV stand trailing behind me."

Cameron scowled, "It's like you ask for complications. You wouldn't be so tired if you'd brought an IV stand along!"

Kaldur laughed, ducking his head and putting a hand over his mouth to fully hide his reaction. Wally still glared at him.

The moment was interrupted when Barry bounded over and _lifted_ Wally up, causing him to yelp as Barry spun him around at superspeed. Barry set him down and then repeated the action with Cameron, who looked just as startled. Barry beamed at them, "We did it!"

"We did," Wally said, eyeing his uncle warily, "We survived the meeting. Yay. No need to get _that_ excited about it."

"No," Barry said with a small laugh, "That's not what I mean. I mean that we did _it_. We started the movement, fully, completely, truly this time. Wally, Cameron… in America, in those other countries, we're _free_ now." There were tears in his eyes by the end of his speech. There were tears in Kaldur's eyes, too.

That need to cry (in happiness, in joy, in relief) only intensified at the shell-shocked look on Wally's face. The younger speedster's expression slackened at Barry's comment, eyes blinking through the lens of his goggles. Wally opened and closed his mouth a few times before he whispered, voice wrecked, "We're free."

Kaldur was sure there wasn't a single person in the room that wasn't crying. That included Batman.

BBBBBB

Bruce wasn't entirely certain how he ended up being suckered into this. Well, no. He knew that it included his _son_ taking a blackmail video of him softly crying at Wally's realization that he was free, but still. Even he wasn't sure when Dick took out the camera and took the video. He wasn't even sure where Dick _kept_ the camera.

Either way, it ended with Bruce helping the Team and other various members of the Justice League set up a little party for the Circus and the Teen Titans. The leaders of both teams had gathered their individual groups into separate rooms and were in the process of explaining everything that was going on in the meeting and what effects that would have on their work.

Bruce. Was setting up a party.

Even though his very being rebelled against the idea of helping do something like this, Bruce couldn't help but be… happy that he was helping. The meeting had been exhausting and Bruce never wanted to have to go through that again (although, they'd probably be asked to sit in on other meetings like that for other countries), but seeing how happy everyone had been? Even the ambassadors and military men had look honestly, purely happy. After their time with the metas training to stop Darkseid, it must have been hard for them to reconcile those people with the laws they had supported. Bruce understood the guilt of that. It must have been a good feeling for them to be a part of the changing process, to be the ones to start the freedom movement.

And maybe part of the reason that Bruce was there, helping set up that party, was the still lingering traces of his own guilt. He wasn't sure he'd ever stop feeling guilty for letting things go on as they did. He wasn't sure he'd ever stop feeling pain at the thought of the suffering those strong, strong metas went through.

He thought back to the meeting, to the chill that had swept through the room when Wally had calmly announced that he and Cameron had been in the camps for six years. Wally hadn't even seemed to fully process how horrified the rest of the room was. Even Flag had been moved by that, stumbling slightly over his words when he'd tried to get back to his point.

Bruce shook his head. It wasn't worth it to think of such things, not now. He was here to celebrate. Not to mope.

He got his head on straight just in time as the door opened moments later to show Wally cautiously peeking his head through. His eyebrows raised over his goggles and a smirk touched the edges of his lips as he walked confidently into the room, immediately turning back to look at the door and see his teammates' reactions.

They were amazing.

Cameron beamed, rushing over to hug a laughing Artemis. Dinah acted much the same, practically skipping across the room where she could bury herself in Oliver's arms, Roy hovering behind them. Kelvin moved out of the way of the doorway, laughing loudly and slugging Clark on the shoulder good-naturedly. Dr. Thompkins wheeled Lorraine into the room. She gasped in delight and activated her meta abilities, immediately flying around the room to take in all the decorations, causing the others to laugh. Jinx didn't laugh, but she smiled broadly, fingers trailing against Wally's for a moment before he wheeled her chair over towards Zatanna, the two girls immediately throwing themselves into a conversation. Harold fell into Hal's arms, gripping him in an enormous hug. Garfield and Billy high-fived enthusiastically before running over to the newer members of the Team, going for a high-five and having to teach a confused La'gaan how to do it and why.

Bruce looked back to Wally, to see how he was feeling about the rather cheesy party decorations. Wally had leaned back against the wall and was gazing around the room, at the heroes and metas gathered together, happily exchanging pleasantries and congratulations. The expression on Wally's face was unbearably fond.

Drawn in by that expression, Bruce moved silently over to where Wally was standing, "M'gann was more than eager to cook the food for this occasion." It wasn't his best conversation starter, but no one had accused Batman at being good at conversation.

Wally smirked regardless, looking over the scores of food laid across the tables, "I can imagine. She's a good cook. At least, when she can figure out the ingredients. I'm always willing to try new food, but some of her Martian/Earth mixtures? Not thrilling."

Bruce changed the topic abruptly, getting to the point he'd been intending to make, "How are you feeling? With everything?"

"Happy," Wally answered immediately, before following it up with, "Unstable, a little. Shocked. But… really, really happy."

Bruce fought against a smile and wasn't entirely certain he won, "I could imagine. We'll all be here for you, through all of this. You might feel unstable now, but we'll make sure you don't fall. You're a hero now." Wally smiled at him, slow and cautious and brave. Bruce gave up the battle and smiled back. Wally deserved a smile or two thrown his way. Before he moved off, Bruce put a hand on Wally's shoulder, "We're going to take care of you now that you're free."

BBBBBB

Barry blinked stupidly down at the email on his phone. Sure, he'd started to get back in contact with some people he'd known back in Central once the anti-meta laws were abolished, but he hadn't been expecting _this_. Especially not so _soon_.

Wally glanced up at from the dinner table and gave him a raised eyebrow, "No technology at the table, Uncle B."

Cameron glanced up from his own food and parroted, "No technology at the table, Uncle B."

Smirking, Iris finished it off with, "No technology at the table, Barry."

Barry sighed, stupidly in love with her and stupidly fond of the two teens who were still coming to their house every week to have dinner. It didn't matter that the two of them were constantly in meetings with various country officials and charity organizations and other heroes and meta groups and benefactors. It broke Barry's heart that they hadn't even been able to enroll themselves in the rehabilitation programs due to how busy they'd been.

The three of them were still raising their eyebrows judgmentally at him when he brought himself back into the present. His shoulders crept up defensively, "What?"

"If you're going to break the rules, then you've got to tell us why," Cameron said, smirking.

Iris added a soft smile, "Besides, anything that makes you look that happy has to be good news."

Barry grinned, reminded of the email he'd opened, "It's great news! I was just talking to Patty from the station, remember her? She said that her and Captain Frye and a couple of the others from the station and from your news station got together and bought our house when we went missing. They made sure to keep it for us. I told her that we ran because of all this meta stuff and she said that all of them have a key waiting for us for when we want to go home." He had to pause for a moment, trying to process the thought of that. For when they wanted to go _home_. Because they could. They could finally, _finally_ go home.

Iris was crying silently, joy lighting her expression, "Oh, that's such good news, Barry. We'll have to start arranging for that as soon as possible!"

Barry grinned, bright and happy, before catching sight of Wally and Cameron's expression. They were obviously happy for the two of them, but there was something _calculating_ under that happiness, something scared. Carefully, Barry asked, "What do you two think? I don't know if you remember it, Wally, but the house is even bigger than this one. Since they haven't gone inside – it's going to need _such_ a cleaning, wow – the room you always stayed in should be exactly as you left it. And we've got another guest bedroom. You guys could stay the night in beds instead of sleeping on the floor like you do here."

Cameron gave him a smile, just a little tighter than usual, "That's great! You used to live in Central, right?"

"Right!" Barry said happily.

Iris reached over the table and grabbed Wally's hand, "You haven't said anything, dear."

Wally gave them one of his smaller smiles in response, "Sorry. Just thinking. That's really great. I do remember the room I used to stay in. Think it still has my toys from when I was a little kid?" His tone was teasing, but there was a hint of pain in his eyes that finally made the situation click for Barry.

Barry and Iris going home? It probably reminded the two of them of the fact that they _weren't_ going home yet. From what Barry and Iris had managed to get out of Cameron, he didn't have anywhere to go. His only family was in jail on a life sentence. Wally hadn't made a single mention of getting back in contact with his parents. Barry knew that Wally was incredibly busy and barely had time to sleep, let alone call his family, but still. He hadn't even tried as far as Barry knew.

Looking over to Iris, Barry waited until she nodded to offer, "You know that I'm planning on becoming a hero in Central City once all this is over, right? Well, once you two are mostly done with all the negotiations and discussions and organization… I was thinking that you two could become my partners. The three of us could fight the Central City baddies together! I know it'll be kind of weird fighting the Rogues since they're funding your city, but someone, I can only picture them being alright with that." He realized he'd been babbling, and he cleared his throat before getting to his main point, "Anyways, I was thinking that maybe… you two could come live with us for a while. Once things start to settle down. If you wanted. Of course. Or, um. Yes."

The two were gaping at him.

Cameron coughed out, "I don't – I'm not even related to you!"

Barry and Iris blinked at him before Iris said, "You're as good as. You're our nephew, the same as Wally is." Cameron coughed again, eyes wide and hand over his heart.

Wally was stock-still, eyes wide. Iris probed gently, "Wally, are you alright?"

Glancing up, Wally swallowed a couple times before he said, "I… is that legal?" It was obviously not the question he'd intended to ask, but that was alright. They had time to get there.

Barry shrugged, "I mean, it's not _super_ illegal if that's what you're asking? I won't be kidnapping the two of you anyways. Besides, for the first couple years of the rehabilitation programs, people are going to be living all over the place with whatever random people they can find. There are kids whose parents are missing and parents who kids are missing. Families are broken up all over the place. There are going to be trust issues and sold homes and loved ones that have moved on. I think, for a little bit, metas who came out of the camps are going to have a lot of leeway in that kind of thing."

That seemed to stump the two of them. They stared down at their food, not really saying anything.

Barry and Iris exchanged looks again before Iris said tentatively, "You two haven't said yes or no yet."

"Yes," Wally and Cameron blurted at the same time, the two of them seeming equally surprised at the other's agreement and at their own agreement.

Iris laughed, pretty and light and beautiful like her, "Okay. That's – that's amazing. That's wonderful. Oh, it's going to be perfect." The two smiled at them, soft and cautious and sincere.

Barry knew there would be trials and tribulations. He knew that it was perfectly likely the two of them would spend as much time in other people's homes as they did at Barry's, but that was alright. They were all healing. It was all a work in progress. It didn't matter because, at the moment, they were happy, and they were free.

WWWWWW

The world wasn't magically fixed. The universe didn't suddenly become brighter or better or _kinder_. But people had changed. _Hearts_ had changed. The fixing that the world needed had _started_. And that was all Wally needed, all he wanted.

It had been over eight years since Wally's world had changed and he'd been thrust too fast, too rough into a world where people didn't care about other people. It had been over ten years since the madness of Savage's plan against the metas had been enacted.

A few political changes and a lot of good charitable groups being helpful wasn't going to erase eight, ten years of hardship and confusion and hatred and misunderstandings. But it was a start. A true start.

A start towards understanding. A start towards justice. A start towards _freedom_.

 **Author's Note: One more chapter guys! I halfway between sad that the story is ending and happy that I'm finally almost done with the story, haha. Thanks for reading!**


	65. Chapter 65

**Author's Note: The epilogue! Ta-da *coughs pitifully* Yeah, I'm quite sick which I feel is some sort of sign, haha. As much as I love this story, I am glad it is over. Let me know what you thought of the story! Fav characters, fav parts, fav lines, etc. Alright, read, review, and (most importantly) enjoy!**

 **Responses to Guest Reviews:**

 **Guest – Aw, that's so sweet! Thanks for the review!**

 **Guest – Yes, the Rogue Status sequel will be coming out shortly after this chapter is posted. Thanks for the review!**

 **May – I'm glad you liked the chapter! Don't worry, you'll definitely be getting updates on everyone else! Thanks for the lovely review!**

WWWWWW

Aside from Wally and Cameron living (most of the time) at the Allen household, Harold was the first one to move out of the headquarters. It was a much more beautiful, purely happy moment than Wally would have been expected it to be.

During the first month or so after the world started changing for the better, the former Teen Titans and the former Circus members lived alongside the Team members in their actual base of operations – the Cave in Mount Justice. Kelvin had almost choked on his sandwich when the Team suggested they all move into their original headquarters.

For that month or so, all of the former members of underground metahuman groups organized themselves, pulling themselves together and figuring out their lives and, most importantly, becoming heroes.

A lot of people kept the same names and retained similar costumes, even if some were a little more fortified. Apparently, Oliver had been preparing new costumes for the Circus members ever since he held that meeting with Wally and Dinah on the roof in Star City. It had taken him a while to make sure that he got them right, but he'd managed.

Dinah had kept the name of Black Canary and had started patrolling with Oliver in the evenings, occasionally staying over at his house. Cameron, Kelvin, Jinx, and Lorraine all kept their names. Garfield went by Beast Boy and delighted in his new, thicker, more flexible suit. Harold chose the name Air Wave and dropped Maser entirely. Billy decided he would be called Captain Marvel instead of Shazam. Evidently it got irritating being unable to say his own code name without switching forms.

Wally was most excited by his own hero change, however. He really felt like it encompassed what had happened over the course of his alliance with the heroes. From his symbol-less, grey, drab suit, Oliver had designed a bright yellow and red high-tech suit that was (most importantly) host to the Flash's symbol (both Barry and Wally had cried at that, but it was during emotional times, so he felt justified) in place of pride on his chest. Wally had adopted the name Kid Flash in deference to his upcoming debut as the Flash's sidekick. Well, he was told that the preferred term was 'partner,' but he was so thrilled about the situation that he didn't even care.

The heroes had been keeping the adult and kid members on shadowing duty or covert ops duty just to make sure that they had a much fuller understanding of what it really meant to be a hero before they had to go out and justify themselves to their chosen cities. Wally was actually glad that they had the Rogues as villains because it would be easier to start out with fighting someone he knew. Of course, he understood that the unspoken reason that the Justice League were keeping them temporarily in the shadows was to ensure that some of the outrage, confusion, and turmoil of changes to meta laws didn't affect their hero careers that much. It felt nice.

What was even more nice was the quiet request from Harold for Wally to talk with him in his room.

Wally had barely closed the door when Harold had engulfed him in a hug, squeezing tight as Wally froze for a long moment before awkwardly returning the gesture. He raised his eyebrows at Hal, who was apparently in the room with them. When Harold disentangled himself, Wally smiled uncertainly at him, "What's up, Harold?"

Harold _beamed_ , "They found them!"

Wally raised his eyebrows, "You're going to have to be more specific about who 'they' are and who 'them' are."

Harold rolled his eyes, "The _rehabilitation programs_ found my _parents_."

For a long moment, Wally just gaped at him, "What?"

"Right?" Harold asked, giddy in a way Wally had never seen.

Wally felt a smile stretching across his face, "Seriously? That – that's amazing. Have you seen them yet? Have you got in contact? What's happening?"

Hal rolled his eyes at Wally's non-stop questions, but Harold didn't seem to mind, still bouncing on his toes, "They only sent me pictures to make sure that I actually recognized them. The system matched us as potential family when I listed family members and how my parents were missing, and they did the same for me and all that. Our house had already been sold and I honestly don't even remember the address so that wouldn't help much or anything. But they positively identified me, and I positively identified them! They're alive and well! Or, well, as _well_ as they can be coming out of the camps, you know. I just got the message and sent the response, like, a couple minutes ago, but I had to tell you."

"I'm so excited for you! And you too, Hal. I know they were family to you as well," Wally said, genuinely smiling.

Hal huffed out a laugh before sighing slightly, "I hate to be this person, but… what's happening after you meet with your parents, kid? You had been planning on living with me, but you've… got your parents now."

Harold frowned, "Well, um, I was thinking I could maybe if you were alright with it, continue living with you? And, um, maybe Mom and Dad could move in too? Or, well, we'd probably need to buy a bigger place because your apartment is tiny, but I've got plenty of money now and Mom and Dad are supposed to get their own money back from the banks."

"I… would they be fine with living with me?" Hal asked, obviously avoiding the question he actually wanted to ask. There were tears gathering quietly at the corners of his eyes.

Harold smiled softly, "Of course! Adult metas whose house has been sold have to spend at least a year living with a relative or a friend or a government person or _someone_ before they're allowed to live on their own anyways. To help them adjust and not flood the housing market with eligible buyers and to allow the metas to get a stable job and be able to actually afford their own house, blah, blah, blah. Besides, they always loved you, too. It'd be great all living together!"

"What about my secret identity?" Hal asked faintly, looking more than a little overwhelmed.

"Oh, uh, I guess I assumed you'd tell them? I was planning on telling them mine. Have you not told anyone else in the family?" Harold asked curiously.

Hal smiled, "Not yet. I was planning on it, but then a lot of things happened, and I met you again and just – yeah. Never did do it. Maybe we can do it together. Tell your parents together and then make a big occasion out of letting the rest of the family know."

"You never know," Wally pointed out, "The fact that your parents were in the camps mean they're metas, too. They might even want to be superheroes themselves."

The group laughed, but the thought stuck in Wally's mind.

Wally hadn't known it for sure at the time, but Harold's parents did, in fact, want to be superheroes themselves. (They teamed up with Harold and, occasionally, Hal and became an amazing team working their way through Coast City and the surrounding areas).

To be frank, a shockingly large amount of metas wanted to be superheroes. A _shockingly_ large. Most of them were doing it on their own time, just gradually adjusting to their new life and finding the call to be heroes within themselves.

Because of that, two months after they were freed, Kelvin pulled Wally aside for a private conversation. He rubbed the back of his neck for a moment, opening and closing his mouth as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say. Wally patiently waited for him to collect his thoughts. Eventually, Kelvin rumbled, "You know I've been talking to my family and all, Skyping, even if I haven't gone to actually see them in person?" Wally nodded carefully. Kelvin had been terrified when his rehabilitation team suggested that he meet his family again. He'd eagerly lapped up any information he could get about them – his parents were alive, and his little sister had graduated college and was now working her way towards a PhD with her fiancé trailing happily along after her. But he wouldn't see them in person or talk to them. He was too ashamed of what he looked like, of the changes that had been wrought on him from the activation of the metagene.

Finally, though, his therapist had managed to get him to do a very emotional, tearful, and cleansing phone call with his family. They'd been terrified when he didn't contact him, apparently. The fact that metahumans were looking for their families with the government's help had been widely publicized. Anyone who knew a metahuman who'd gone to the camps could fill out forms to try to speed up the reconnection process. Kelvin's whole family had filled out the forms, sending them in multiple times, waiting with bated breath (Wally had told his rehabilitation team, point blank, that – at this stage in his healing – he didn't want to know if people were looking for him, if there were forms desperately asking for him to be reunited with his parents). A lot of the nation was like that, checking the death list updates every day and praying that their loved ones' name wasn't on it.

People who didn't know if their loved one had been taken by the Collection Agency or if they'd disappeared for other reasons sent pictures into the rehabilitation centers, along with a brief description of personality and disappearance. The metas who were matched up with rehabilitation teams got daily updates on the potential missing. They would call into their teams if they recognized the person and could give information on whether that person had been in the camps and if they knew their fates. It was one of the only ways the dead were being identified. It was too hard otherwise. The camps didn't keep any real records and memories of the place and other people's names weren't always the greatest.

Kelvin continued, jerking Wally out of his train of thoughts, "Well, they were talking about me moving in with my sister and her girl for my year transition – you know my apartment was sold which _sucks_ because I liked that place. And I was going back and forth because you know I'm being mentored by Hawkman and Hawkwoman down in Louisiana and it would be a trek to go from my sister's place to Louisiana to this place in the middle and all of that. But then, uh, Jade contacted me. Jade from the Blood Pack? They're apparently going to stay a group, but they're going to be a hero group working in the city my sister lives in. They invited me to join and, well, I accepted. I'm going to go live with my sister and her fiancé."

"I'm so happy for you!" Wally cried, grabbing Kelvin around the shoulders and bringing him down a little bit to have a proper hug.

Kelvin laughed and picked Wally up, ignoring his squawk of indignation.

Wally knew that Kelvin was still incredibly nervous about going to live with his sister. It was the first time they were going to see each other in person and Kelvin was still anxious about his shape and skin color and size. More than that, though, Kelvin was nervous about his family seeing how truly changed he was.

It was one thing to hear his heavily edited stories of the time he spent on in the camps and on the run. It was another thing to live with him, dealing with his PTSD and his traumas and his new quirks. It was another thing to _see_ the scars, mental or physical.

That was the same problem Lorraine was having. She wanted to go home to her father, and he'd expressed through several phone calls that he _hated_ himself for sending her to the Collection Agencies and that he just wanted her to come home. He'd said that he would do anything and everything to accommodate her and that he was willing to really take the time to understand her powers and her new role as a hero and her old role as an international terrorist.

And Lorraine had been _thrilled_ at all of that, more than excited to go home to her apologetic father and the manor and all of the people who worked there that she'd loved like family when she was younger. What she _hadn't_ been thrilled about was the idea of her father finding out that she was paralyzed. It wasn't easy for the family members taking back metas who had been in camps. The camps were brutal places and there was a lot to do for recovery. Therapy sessions – individual and family sessions. Remedial schooling. Power control. So, so, so much more. It would be especially harder taking in a meta who'd been in a camp and was now paralyzed from the neck down.

So, against her therapist and doctor's (her and Leslie Thompkins had become something of best friends and Leslie was planning on continuing to work with Lorraine on her physical therapy for a long time. She'd even brought Lorraine home to meet her kids a time or two) suggestion to _tell him_ , she'd kept him in the dark about it and refused face-to-face calls to avoid detection.

But, the continued good cheer and good news from both Harold and Kelvin _finally_ got her to take the last step. Four and a half months after being freed, she told her father about her paralysis and finally went home.

For some, going home wasn't as easy, but it was just as satisfying.

Barry and Iris officially adopted Cameron seven months after they all went free and the rehabilitation team assigned to him confirmed that they were a good fit and that his own father _wasn't_ a good fit.

Garfield, officially, was signed over to the care of Steve Dayton (a man who became a hero under the name of Mento), but he as good as lived in the Teen Titans tower. Starfire had been officially named as heir to Loren Jupiter's fortune and buildings and therefore owned the tower. She moved the Teen Titans back into it easily, letting the Justice League help her adapt the entire tower into a base for them, instead of just the hidden upper part. After bonding fiercely with Cyborg, Garfield (eight months after being freed) decided that becoming a Teen Titan was his best option. So far, he was loving it – especially the continued freedom of living in a base that was mostly teenagers.

Dinah superficially reconnected with some of her old friends from before she was taken, but it was hard to build anything with them. Most were flighty and uncomfortable with the prospect of her being a meta and suffering the way she did. She had some real true friends, but not all of them even lived in Gotham anymore. So, instead of going there, she stayed in the Cave as a sort of Den Mother, looking after everyone when she could. Ten months after being freed, though, Oliver proposed, and she said yes. The two easily moved in together, working and living flawlessly together.

Billy was a little harder. After looking through his case file, his therapist suggested one last foster home for him to try. He'd tried to stop going to the therapist after that, but the rest of them had been able to convince him to go back and, eventually, after eleven months of fighting it, try out the new family. Billy _loved_ it with his new family – said they reminded him of the Circus sometimes.

Jinx was one of the hardest. As it stood, she knew nothing about her birth family and the system knew nothing about her birth family. The only name she had ever known for herself was Jinx and that wasn't in any sort of system. If she looked different before her metagene activated, then she didn't remember it. She was in no system and had no previous knowledge of the foster system. As far as her therapist was concerned, she wasn't _going_ to have any knowledge of it. The therapist was one of the rehabilitation program's appointed ones and had stated numerous times that she trusted the meta foster system that had been put in place. She just didn't think that _Jinx_ was in the stage of mental healing to try foster care at the time. Instead, Jinx had, eleven and a half months after being freed, asked the Justice League if she could officially live at the Cave with M'gann, Conner, and Zatanna (who had quickly become something of a sister to Jinx).

And Wally?

It took Wally fourteen months to even bring up his parents to anyone other than his therapist.

It had been the four of them at dinner in the Allen household, eating pizza to celebrate Cameron and Wally passing another level of the rehabilitation program. Wally looked up at the group, at his _family_ , and blurted out, "I don't think I want to go back to my parents."

They all blinked up at him, thrown by his seemingly random comment. Iris put a gentle hand on his knee from where she was sprawled on the floor next to him, "Are you sure, honey? You haven't even seen them in, well, nine years now."

"That's _why_ ," Wally said, brows drawing together as he tried to figure out what he was trying to say, "Well, no. That's not entirely it. But it's part of it. I'm seventeen. I'd live with them for, what? Part of a year until I was eighteen and ready to move out on my own? It would be more than the awkward anyways. They know me as a little kid. An eight-year-old. I am so far from that eight-year-old at this point that it's not even funny. I don't think any of us would be happy." He frowned again and the others waited, able to tell that he had more to say, "And… and that doesn't mean that I don't – don't care about them. I do. I, well, I _think_ I do. They're pretty much hazy memory at this point. But, I want to see them again. I know it was cruel to string them along for so long. It took me eight months before I even let the program inform them that I was alive and then I wouldn't even contact them after that even though they've apparently tried to contact me. I know that was cruel, but… I don't know. I don't know."

Barry's expression darkened the same way it did every time Wally's parents were mentioned and he muttered under his breath, "Not nearly cruel _enough_ for what they put you through."

Wally scowled at him but Iris, who was closer, elbowed him quite hard in the ribs, so Wally felt that Barry could get away with his comment. Cameron nudged Wally with his foot, "So, what do you want for the remaining year, then? Remain here in limbo and just intermittently contact your parents?"

Wally turned his scowl onto Cameron. He'd been _working up to that point_. It was dumb. Wally shouldn't be as nervous as he was, asking this. He was pretty sure he knew what the answer was going to be. But he was still nervous. It was ridiculous! He was a camp escapee, leading the two largest camp escapes ever. He was the leader of an underground metahuman group. He was a _hero_. He was a literal king of a country (the entirety of New Holo City – after being declared a country called Holo – had voted on what Wally's official role would be and they'd decided that he'd be the King of the country mostly, Wally guessed, to mess with him. He'd messed right back by knighting the other Circus members (and himself) and a couple of the other metas). This should not be so hard!

The others simply watched placidly as Wally wrestled with himself. Maybe they knew how important this was for him to ask. They had to know what the question was by now. Wally swallowed and asked, "Would you two be willing to – to adopt me? If I got my parents to sign over guardianship?"

Iris and Barry's eyes were filled with tears before Wally even finished speaking, "Of course, kiddo! Always. Anytime. We'll talk to one of the placement officers about getting that paperwork sorted out as soon as we can. C'mon, get in here for a hug." Wally let himself fall into the hug.

And that brought him back to that moment, standing in his childhood city, in front of his childhood home. He'd convinced the others that he wanted to do this alone, that he didn't want to overwhelm his parents. It didn't stop him from wishing that at least Cameron or Jinx was there.

He was just raising his fist to knock when a voice from the next house over called out to him, "I wouldn't bother. They left a bit ago. They should be back soon, though."

Wally sighed, "My own fault for coming early, I guess."

He turned to face whomever had addressed him, only to squint curiously at the teenager standing on the next porch over. The boy squinted right back, cautiously asking, "Do I know you?"

Wally grimaced, "Maybe? I feel like I know you, but… I can't possibly imagine where from…"

The other boy was about to say something when the _last_ person Wally expected to see walked out of the door, clapping a friendly hand on the teen's shoulder. Mark Mardon made eye contact with Wally as the speedster was still making a horrified face. Wally squeaked, "Mark?"

Mark stuttered, "Wally?"

"Wally?" the teen said, eyes lighting up.

A woman joined the strange group out front, calling out, "Josh?"

Wally blinked, " _Josh?_ "

The woman blinked at him and then at the stunned faces around him. She sighed and leaned up against the wall, "I haven't seen you around. Coming to visit the Wests? You apparently know my son and my… boyfriend."

Mark pouted, "Why'd you say boyfriend like that?" She just shot him a glare and didn't respond. Josh snickered between them.

Wally smiled unwillingly, "Yeah, I came to visit them. They're, uh, my parents."

Josh crowed, "Yes! I knew I recognized you! We went to school together before…" His voice trailed off and his shoulders sagged a little bit. Both the woman and Mark instantly moved in towards him. Josh curled closer to them like a flower seeking sunlight.

Hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to do this (it was a constant struggle with the rehabilitation programs to get people to actually admit their time in the camps to strangers or quasi-strangers), Wally said as flippantly as he could, "I looked for you but I didn't see you at the camp. I had, um, I had assumed you'd have gone to the same camp I did." His hands were clenched, and his fingernails were digging into his palms, but he'd done it.

The woman was trying her hardest to not gape at her while Mark just gazed at him sadly. Josh blinked in surprise, "You… you're a meta, too?"

"Yeah," Wally shrugged, a little self-deprecatingly, "Chemical accident activated my abilities. I think I ended up in the camp maybe… a month after you were taken away?"

Josh flinched a little, "Ah, man. I was hoping you'd say that you were only in there for a year or two. Not, not, what? Eight years?"

Wally blew out a breath, "Nah, man. Less than that. I, uh, escaped." The woman's eyes flickered over him curiously, but she didn't say anything, obviously content to let the conversation go where it would.

Josh's eyebrows raised, "Seriously? Did you get out during the split world day, too?"

"Did _you_?" Wally asked incredulously. He hadn't seen Josh anywhere.

Josh grinned, "Yeah, man. A couple of us just booked it once the adults disappeared. I heard that the leader of that group, uh, the Circus? You heard of them? I heard that he went around and rescued a bunch of kids and brought them somewhere safe. _That_ would have been nice. Me and the others ran around, hiding for a while until things calmed down and we were told that it was safe for us to come out. Did the Circus bring you to safety then?"

Feeling a little bit stupid and a little bit brave and a little bit like maybe he could trust for once, Wally leaned over the railing of the porch (the porches were stupidly close together) and said quietly, "Can you keep a secret?" Mark looked amused because he already knew this secret. The woman (probably Josh's mother) looked bemused, but Josh looked thrilled. All three eventually nodded. Wally gave a lopsided grin, "I am the leader of the Circus. Or, well, the leader of the since retired Circus. I led the escape that got the Circus out at year six. I mean, it was year six for two of us. The rest were a lot newer to the camp." Wally's grin faded a little bit, "I'm really sorry we didn't run into each other. When I escaped, I could only grab the guy on the table next to me and the ones who were building next to my friend."

Josh flinched again, "Table? You were an experiment?"

Wally winced, "Yeah."

Josh blew out a breath, "Man, didn't you know? Even _one_ year as an experiment means that you don't have to apologize to anyone ever again. You've got six. People should be apologizing to _you_. Don't sweat not being able to find me. You have to know that the entire metahuman population knows that you and your Circus are largely responsible for the freedom we have now. Nope, don't give me that face. It's the truth. We all know it. Deal. You _did_ save me, man. More than that, you made sure life for me was as easy as it was going to be. You did sign up for a rehabilitation program, right? I'm not sure since I heard you've got some sort of secret place for metas or something?"

Wally snorted, "I wouldn't call it that much of a secret anymore, but yeah, I got signed up with a program. They're, uh, the ones who put me back in touch with… Mom and Dad."

"You don't look too thrilled," Josh sympathized.

Biting his lip, Wally leaned forward again, "Probably because this is the first time I've seen them in nine years and I'm asking if they'll transfer guardianship to my aunt and uncle."

Josh hissed, "Brutal." Mark was giving Wally a concerned glance from behind Josh, eyeing the house wearily.

The woman blinked at the house, "Really? Why?" She blushed and put a hand in front of her mouth, "I'm sorry! That just came out. Please ignore that."

"You're fine," Wally laughed, "Honest. It's just… my uncle's a meta and they've already adopted my best friend – the one who was with me from the moment I got onto the bus to camp. I've been living with them for over a year now. I'm almost eighteen, so there's not much time to get comfortable with them. I just – I don't know. I've lived for others too long. I'm not going to give myself over to people who are essentially strangers when I can be with people I know and love. And, sure, maybe time will fix things with my parents, but… I don't _need_ time for my Aunt and Uncle."

The woman's expression was oh so impossibly sad when she whispered, "They turned you into the Agency, didn't they?"

Josh went stark white at the name and the implications while Mark's own suspicious gaze on the West house intensified. Wally grimaced, "I don't blame them for it. It wasn't the best time for me to suddenly become a meta. And the doctors noticed the activation first, so there wasn't a way to deny it. They did what they thought best at the time. As far as I remember, at least. I try to _not_ remember that kind of stuff, to be honest."

"Amen," Josh commented, fervently. Mark ruffled his hair absentmindedly.

The woman sighed suddenly, "That's their car now."

Wally tensed, turning around to look at the car trudging down the road. He didn't recognize it. Then again, that made sense. Not a lot of people kept cars for almost a decade. Or longer? How long had they had the car that Wally remembered? He didn't know.

The woman cleared her throat to get Wally's attention back, "If you ever need anything, just knock. I've heard about you from _both_ of my metas and I think I can say you're a good kid. We host a little meeting, calm down, group chat, safe space for teens who were in the camps from Blue Valley here every Wednesday at 6 pm. You're welcome at any time. You're welcome as Supersonic, savior of the metas, or as Wally, another meta who needs a safe space. Okay?"

"Okay," Wally said, somehow pushing it out through the lump in his throat. Josh gave him a look that said that he _understood_. Mark lingered a second on the porch as the other two went back into the house. He hesitated before finally settling on just giving him a crisp nod. Wally nodded back and Mark went into the house.

Wally turned around to face his parents.

His mother was out of the car first, fluttering up the path slightly before stopping just before the stairs up to the porch. She looked up at Wally and said, somewhat nervously, somewhat awkwardly, "We're sorry! We just remembered that we hadn't grabbed Rudy's – or, um, your _father's_ favorite dip and, well, we thought we had time. I hope we didn't keep you waiting!"

Wally could do this. Wally could _do this_. His therapists had prepared him for this. His friends had prepared him for this. He could _do it_. He gave her a somewhat shaky smile before admitting, "Not long. I got a little – over eager and got here early. It was good anyways. I got to see Josh again." He stepped slightly to the side, indicating that he'd follow her in.

She fluttered slightly as Wally's dad grabbed a bag out of one of the back seats. He gave Wally an awkward nod that Wally sent back with a little more confidence. Carefully, the three of them trickled into the house.

For a moment, Wally had to pause on the threshold. The experience hadn't been quite so jarring with the Allen household where Wally had visited only briefly in his child. Here? In his childhood home? It was like stepping into a memory. A warped memory. This wasn't the house he knew – it wasn't filled with any aspect of _him_ out in the open other than a rather large framed photo that sat, beautiful and bright, directly above the fireplace. Wally drifted closer to it, drawn in by the thought. His parents had looked at this, at _him_ every day. It was something they'd had done after he was gone because he would have remembered this.

His mom asked quietly, "Did you know Josh from – from before? Did you go to school together?"

Wally winced, hesitated, and then decided to be honest, "Yeah. He was in my grade. He, uh, he was the one who made the storm that, well, made _me_."

"Oh," his mom said before sitting heavily into a chair and gesturing at the low table in front of her, "Feel free to grab whatever you like! And take a seat, take a seat!"

Wally was gratified to see that his parents had put out a bland, typical variety in front of him. He'd heard horror stories of people who went home, and their parents put out all the snacks that they used to like as kids. It had only hurt to be instantly reminded of the childhood they'd lost. This was much better. He wondered if they'd gone to meetings to figure out how to best do this. There were programs set up for that, designed by kids who thought of all the things they would and wouldn't want to see coming home and all the things that the therapists thought would help or hurt.

Carefully, Wally sat down and leaned over, grabbing one of the small foam plates and piling it with little snacks and treats. After a second, his parents did the same thing from the other side of the table.

There was a silence while they ate – heavy, certainly, but not as stilted and awkward as Wally had been expecting. Suddenly, his dad broke the silence, "We knew you weren't going to be living with us after this meeting, but… you're not coming back to live with us at all, are you?"

Wally glanced up, startled. His parents were giving him identical fond looks that he really didn't know what to do with. He stuttered out, "I, uh. No. No, I'm not. I'm sorry. I – I meant to. I don't know what I'm trying to say. I came here to get to know my parents again, but… I think it's better if I keep living with Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry. I, um, wasn't going to bring this up until later, but, well, I was wondering if you would sign guardianship of me over to them?"

They looked sad, crushed even. They also looked like they were expecting it. His dad let out a somewhat wet chuckle, "Hand the papers over. I'll look through them while your mother explains." Wally must have looked as confused as he felt. Numbly, he handed his father the papers. His dad grabbed out reading glasses (had he always had those?) and started going through the papers.

Wally's mom gave him a small, brittle smile, "We were _so_ happy when we found out you were alive and in the rehabilitation program. It was more than we could have ever asked for. When we found out what was happening in those camps… I can't explain what we felt. I just… I can't explain. So, knowing that you were alive, and as safe as you could be – it was the best thing we'd heard. Then you didn't want to see us. And… that hurt, admittedly, but we thought we understood. We figured that you hated us for, for sending you there. For not fighting for you. But we still wanted to see you, at least once. We wanted to apologize at the very least. So, we went to one of the meetings for parents with meta children who were in the rehabilitation program. We thought we'd be the strange ones out because our kid didn't want to see us, but we realized that a good number of the parents there had children who were staying with other people, who were waiting to come home. And the person in charge of those meetings, he explained a lot of things. He told us probably more than we wanted to know about the camps. He told us a little bit of the psychology, of the generalize emotions that camp escapees would feel. And we started to understand a little bit better. Obviously, there are still things we need to talk about. We can't generalize you based on what some man said. But… we understand. We don't know everything. We'll never know everything. We'll never understand what you're feeling. But we're your parents and, in this, we understand. And we love you."

With a choked cry, Wally sat down the plate he'd been holding and rushed around the table (trying to do it at normal speed so he didn't blow the snacks away or startle his parents) to throw himself in his mother's arm.

Thing's weren't fixed.

That was going to take a very, very long time.

But that was alright. Because people were changing. Because evil had been vanquished. Because bonds had been forged. Because Wally had friends and family and his Circus.

 **Author's Note: There we go! Make sure to check out 'Rogue's Perfection' – the sequel to 'Rogue's Status' if you read that! Thank you so, so, so much for reading this behemoth! Let me know if there was anything you specifically liked or if there's anything you think I should work on!**


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